After yesterday's announcement that HarperCollins leased 180k SF at L&L Holding and Beacon Capital Partners' 195 Broadway, L&L CEO David Levinson tells us rents have risen 30% since L&L purchased the 1M SF-er in '06 (being across the street from Fulton Center doesn't hurt). And he expects them to go up another 15% in the next two years--good timing, since Thompson Reuters' lease there expires in three. David says the HarperCollins lease hedges against that rollover risk. Also in two years, he expects to open two high-end retail spots in the lobby (for which L&L has painstakingly worked to gain Landmark Preservation Commissionapproval). PS: Retail rents also rose from $100 to $400/SF since the acquisition.
Media tenants head Downtown partly for rent savings. 195 Broadway's asking rates are $45/SF, while David anticipates $75/SF rents at 114 Fifth Ave at 17th Street (his firm acquired the leasehold interest at the Midtown South building for $165M this month and will renovate into 380k SF, Class-A space). CBRE's Ken Rapp, who with colleagues Mary Ann Tighe and Chris Mansfield repped HarperCollins (L&L's David Berkey and Andrew Wiener repped in-house), says the publisher started looking for space 15 months ago, opting to skip SL Green's planned total renovation of 10 E 53rd St (which we snapped moments ago). The relo shrinks its space by 30k SF, but there are efficiencies: four 40k+ SF floorplates vs twenty 20k SF ones. Further Downtown, Ken's excited to hear about leases he expects to close on Water Street--good news for the Sandy-impacted area.
Quasimodo? That name rings a bell. Send story ideas to amanda.metcalf@bisnow.com.
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