Steve Cuozzo

Steve Cuozzo

Real Estate

Morelli signs lease at Madison Avenue location

International society jeweler Paul Morelli has signed a lease at 859 Madison Ave., the glam shopping corridor’s northeast corner at 72d Street opposite Ralph Lauren Polo.

It’s the first free-standing New York store for Philadelphia-based Paul Morelli, which sells its American-made baubles at retailers such as Bergdorf Goodman.

The lease includes 728 square-foot ground-floor space previously occupied by shoe boutique Galo and 1,221 square feet of basement.

Douglas Elliman’s Faith Hope Consolo, who handled both sides of the deal with her firm’s Joseph Aquino, said the rent was $1,015 a foot.

“Paul Morelli was primed for his own signature store in the city and this location is absolutely ideal,” said Consolo.


Seventeen new leases have gobbled up 86,333 square feet at SL Green’s 420 Lexington Ave., the Graybar Building.

SLG leasing director Steve Durels noted that the 1.4 million square-foot tower, now 95 percent leased, has seen demand from “a wide range of businesses.”

Asking rents average $60 a square foot. The recent deals include a 19,682 square-foot expansion by Pride Technologies LLC and Pride Global Finance.

Durels noted that in most of 2013, the Grand Central district “was one of the weaker submarkets, but now there’s a lot of demand.”

Graybar has two large tenants, Metro North (250,000 square feet) and New York Life (100,000 square feet) — and nearly 250 small tenants. “We’ll be up to 98 percent occupied by the third quarter,” Durels said.