New York, NY – SL Green Realty Corp. (NYSE: SLG) closed 2007 having signed leases throughout the year covering a robust 1,743,888 square feet in 258 transactions within its Manhattan office portfolio. Reflecting the strength of the leasing market and desirability of the SL portfolio, occupancy rates remained high at 97 percent.
Among the many notable office leases signed in 2007, the largest were with J&W Seligman & Co., Inc./Seligman Data Corporation at 100 Park Avenue, Ann Taylor Stores Corp. at 1372 Broadway, NYU Hospitals Center at 333 East 38th Street, D.E. Shaw & Co., LP at 120 West 45th Street, The Millwork Trading Co., Ltd. d/b/a Li Fung, at 1372 Broadway, and WalMart, also at 1372 Broadway.
J&W Seligman and Co. Incorporated and associated company, Seligman Data Corporation both renewed their leases at 100 Park Avenue covering a total of 103,363 square feet. Sharing SL Green’s vision for the office tower as it underwent the finishing touches of its impressive $72 million repositioning program, J&W Seligman extended its lease for 10 years and nine months, and Seligman Data Corporation signed a new 11-year, four-month lease. Tara Stacom of Cushman & Wakefield, Inc. represented both tenants.
100 Park Avenue is a gleaming 36-story office tower located between 40th and 41st Streets on Park Avenue. With its dramatic repositioning, the building has already become the leading office property in the Grand Central Terminal submarket where tenants and visitors alike are met by a spectacular and soaring two-story atrium lobby, stunning glass façade with 2,500 new insulated windows, and sleekly designed elevator cabs with glass and stone accents. Additionally, the building infrastructure has been significantly upgraded. 100 Park Avenue offers 10,300 to 45,000 square foot floors and contains 887,489 rentable square feet.
At 1372 Broadway, a 21-story office building located between 37th and 38th Streets, leading women’s retailer and long term tenant, Ann Taylor Stores Corp., renewed its lease early covering 100,062 square feet with a view to hedging against future lease rate increases. David Goldstein, Matthew Barlow and Jason Perla of Studley represented the tenant. The Millwork Trading Company, d/b/a Li Fung, one of the world’s largest consumer goods sourcing companies, signed a new 10-year lease covering 70,538 square feet. Alexander Chudnoff of Cushman & Wakefield, Inc. represented The Millwork Trading Company. Frank Doyle of Jones Lang LaSalle represented the landlord.
Also at 1372 Broadway, Wal-Mart Stores East signed a 10-year, 46,103-square-foot lease to occupy the entire second floor and mezzanine of the building, for its executive offices. Barry Milberg of Treeline Real Estate Group together with Alexander Chudnoff and Mitchell Konsker of Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenant.
NYU Hospitals Center expanded its footprint at 333 East 38th Street in two decisive stages, the first in June with a new 20-year lease for 48,896 square feet and the second in late November with a new 13-year lease for 44,995 square feet. The leading healthcare provider and long-term tenant now occupies more than 159,600 square feet at the 12-story building, located on First Avenue within close proximity to the main NYU Medical Center. Howard J. Tenenbaum and Gary M. Rosen of SL Green represented the landlord in both agreements.
Rounding out the top five leases for 2007, prominent tenant, global investment and technology development firm, D.E. Shaw & Co., LP renewed its 71,457 square foot lease at 120 West 45th Street, also known as Tower 45, for ten years. Tower 45 is a 40-story office tower located between Sixth and Seventh Avenues.
Commenting on the year’s strong leasing performance, Steven Durels, Executive VP and Director of Leasing and Real Property said, “2007 continued to be a robust year in terms of leasing activity with many tenants attracted by the strength of our numerous strategic building repositioning efforts. We enter 2008 with an office portfolio that enjoys continual re-investment in order to deliver the greatest possible service to our tenants.”
Company Profile
SL Green Realty Corp. is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust, or REIT, that predominantly acquires, owns, repositions and manages Manhattan office properties. The Company is the only publicly held REIT that specializes in this niche. As of September 30, 2007, the Company owned 31 New York City office properties totaling approximately 22,353,200 square feet, making it New York’s largest office landlord. In addition, SL Green holds investment interests in, among other things, retail properties (10) encompassing approximately 393,789 square feet, development property (one) encompassing approximately 85,000 square feet and land interests (two), along with ownership of 36 suburban assets totaling 7,867,500 square feet in Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island, Westchester County, Connecticut and New Jersey.
