Lois Weiss

Lois Weiss

Real Estate

Salesforce.com looks West for signature site

When a company starts making megadeals in other major cities, it’s time to see what’s up in ours.

We’ve now learned that Salesforce.com, which provides online tools and resources to help generate sales for any size business, is scoping out sites to make a big statement here.

In April, Salesforce leased 714,000 square feet as the name anchor tenant for a 1,070 foot-tall tower in San Francisco being developed by Boston Properties and Hines. As we told you, its curtain wall is planned to generate solar energy.

In London, the company agreed in May to become the largest tenant at Heron Tower, which will become, ta da, Salesforce Tower.

See the pattern? Now, we’ve learned that Salesforce is on the prowl in Manhattan for another signature spot and may be focused on the emerging Hudson Yards and Manhattan West areas.

As first reported by The Post’s Steve Cuozzo, Salesforce has 74,349 square feet at 685 Third Ave., where 263,662 feet is now available, but sources say Salesforce has its eye on a bigger bang for its buck.

In an e-mail, a Salesforce spokeswoman said the company does not comment on speculation and the other firms naturally declined comment as well. Stay tuned.


We had an excellent hardhat adventure Tuesday trooping around the Manhattan West construction site, just across Ninth Avenue from the Farley Post Office Building. Here, 56-ton precast concrete segments are being assembled to cover over the train tracks leading into Penn Station.

These segments are being moved by a ginormous, $7 million specially made Italian machine dubbed “The Launcher” that has to move 39 of them to create just one 240-foot “span” across the tracks. Seven spans already are in place, with 11 more to go before the 120,000-square-foot platform is completed at the end of the year.

Next year, construction will begin on a residential tower. Once anchor tenants are signed, two, 60-story office towers will follow.

The project also includes a new curtain wall for 450 W. 33rd St., open space with gardens, through-block walkways and retail shops.

Nearby, the Hudson Yards Park is starting to take shape. It is being developed in the middle of the new Hudson Boulevard that will run north/south to West 38th Street.

We toured this earlier this month. The section from 33rd to 34th streets is almost ready for visitors and will have a clam-shell covered entrance to the No. 7 subway line. Another entry will be just north of 34th in the backyard of Moinian’s upcoming 3 Hudson Blvd. A small café will be set between 35th and 36th streets, where folks will be able to meet under the James Carpenter-designed lighted pole.

Just as Ground Zero has turned back into the World Trade Center, Manhattan West and Hudson Yards are starting to take on their own exciting 21st Century shapes.


A mixed-use 58,750 foot office, retail and garage condominium at 400 E. 67th St. at First Avenue in the base of the Laurel residential tower is expected to trade for upwards of $70 million.

Woody Heller, Will Silverman, Eric Negrin and Daniel Parker of Savills Studley are marketing the asset on behalf of an institutional seller.

“Fully leased with average lease terms of 10 years, it’s a modest sized investment with excellent yield and requires virtually no management,” Heller said. “Offshore, institutional, public and private investors have been clamoring for this type of investment for decades and it’s finally available in New York City.”

The three credit tenants are TD Bank, in the 3,000-foot retail spot; Cornell University, in 29,000 feet of offices on four levels; and a 142-car garage in 26,000 mostly underground feet run by Quik Park.

The Laurel is known for its numerous pools and concentration on triathelete training.


The sales team for True Religion has signed a 6.5-year, 5,000-foot lease for its office and showroom on a higher floor in its current building. The company will move up to the column-free 10th floor of 599 Broadway, which has great light and views.

Don Preate and Jamie Katcher of Cushman & Wakefield represented the fashion company known for its edgy clothes. Jay Caseley, Andrew Udis and Ian Weiss of ABS Partners represented the owner, Grassi Studio, which will upgrade the common corridor and bathrooms as part of the low-$60s per-foot lease.