New details of a lease between the city’s Human Resources Administration and Silverstein Properties at 4 World Trade Center might not be the final word.
As reported by GlobeSt.com, HRA is taking 582,000 square feet in the 2.2 million square-foot tower now rising. It marked the first time the city has spelled out specifics of a deal announced nearly five years ago — namely, which agency would move to 4 WTC and on which floors (22-35).
But that could still change if a private-sector tenant comes along — which depends on a perplexing leasing market. While Manhattan vacancies remain at a healthy 9.4 percent, according to Cushman & Wakefield, Colliers International yesterday cited availability rising from 11.1 to 11.4 percent, and warned of “headwinds” in the market.
While several big firms are exploring moves, UBS recently said it had changed its mind about leaving Stamford, Conn., for the WTC. We recently reported the last-minute collapse of near-100,000 square-foot Manhattan leases for CAA and Amazon’s Quidsi.
But as Post City Hall Bureau Chief David Seifman reported last spring, Larry Silverstein believes a private-sector tenant might yet want the city’s intended space at 4 WTC — in which case “the city’s obligation may not be necessary,” the developer said at the time.
The tower won’t be finished for at least two more years. The Port Authority is taking 800,000 square feet for its headquarters.
Sources said yesterday that while the door remains open for a private-sector tenant, the city needed to start making plans. The lease also helps stabilize the project for Silverstein, who has yet to issue Liberty Bonds.
Both Silverstein and the PA, which owns 1 WTC with the Durst Organization, would prefer private-sector tenants. As we reported, the US General Services Administration will get only half of the 600,000 square feet it originally wanted — reflecting owners’ confidence that other companies will follow Condé Nast there.
The HRA lease at 4 WTC would start at $56.50 a square foot, $10-15 less per foot than tenants have recently paid at Silverstein’s 7 WTC.
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Add another Manhattan office building to Savanna’s portfolio. A joint venture of the ambitious private equity/asset management firm and the Feil Organization has bought 21 Penn Plaza, aka 360 W. 31st St., for $137 million.
The prewar tower at Ninth Avenue with 375,000 square feet is 95 percent leased. The new owners anticipate higher rents as leases roll over the next five years.
In the past 16 months, opportunistic Savanna, run by managing partners Chris Schlank and Nick Bienstock, has bought seven other Manhattan properties, including 1375 Broadway and 80 Broad St.
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Two large new retail leases have been signed in spaces owned by the same partnership along SoHo’s booming Broadway shopping corridor.
Shoe designer Carlo Pazolini took 8,000 square feet on two levels at 534 Broadway, where the ground-floor rent is $400 per square foot. The space is a retail condo owned by Bobby Cayre’s Aurora Associates and Alex Adjmi, a partnership which recently bought the space for over $10 million.
Meanwhile, sources said Levi’s is moving into 10,000 square feet at 495 Broadway. The base rent is $3 million a year. Last summer, Aurora and Adjmi formed a JV with the owner of 495 Broadway to buy out a below-market lease formerly held by Rite-Aid.
Aurora Capital vice-president Jared Epstein, who could not be reached, repped the partnership in the purchase of the retail spaces as well as the store leases. Carlo Pazolini was repped by RKF’s Karen Bellantoni and Beth Rosen and Levi’s by PBS Realty’s Laura Pomerantz.
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As readers of this column know well, two giant projects are underway on West 54th Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue — Boston Properties’ office tower and a 70-story Marriott Courtyard Hotel.
But mystery lingers over 237 W. 54th St., a vacant lot between the tiny apartment building at 243 W. 54th and the Marriott site. Owner Joseph Moinian, who recently demolished a small building there, filed plans this year for a new hotel of his own of either 27 or 34 stories, depending on which Buildings Dept. entry you believe.
Now, Moinian tells us in a statement that an entity owned by himself and partners “has conveyed its interests in the land at 237 W. 54th into a new joint venture. The new, controlling members of the venture have provided financing and their expertise in the development and operation of hotels.
“For the time being, for competitive reasons, they wish to remain anonymous. Moinian remains as a minority, non-controlling member of the JV building the hotel and has no interest in the developer of the property.” So far, there’s no public record of a change of title.
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Amazon’s Adzinia Media Group, an online display advertising unit, is adding nearly 25,000 square feet to more than 30,000 it already has at SL Green’s 1350 Sixth Ave., for a total of just under 60,000 square feet.
SLG vice-president Steven Durels said asking rents in the 585,000 square-foot tower, 97 percent full, are $65 a square foot.