For the past few years over at gbNYC, we’ve reviewed the annual list of Manhattan’s largest commercial leasing deals for those transactions which took place in buildings that were either certified or pursuing designation under LEED or Energy Star to make some anecdotal observations about the state of the local green real estate market. Here are last year’s leases which were signed in green buildings as reported by the New York Observer in its recent compilation of 2009′s top 20 largest commercial transactions by square footage. A year ago, we speculated that it was “anyone’s guess” how this list would look for 2009. In that respect, the overall amount of space leased by each of the following tenants is obviously much smaller than what we saw in 2008, but 5 of the top 20 deals identified by the Observer did take place in green buildings.
I was also surprised to note that only one of the deals was for space in an Energy Star-rated building; this could, of course, be purely a function of the market – timing, space requirements, etc. – but thought it was worth pointing out. The fact that an increasing number of commercial real estate transactions are taking place in buildings that have earned (or are pursuing) third-party certification emphasizes the import of many of the risk management issues that we continue to discuss here at GRELJ. Here’s the list, with other pertinent information of interest following where appropriate:
#5: 200 Park Avenue (Not pursuing any third-party certification but notable because the tenant originally intended to take space in Boston Properties’ LEED Gold-hopeful, credit crisis casualty 250 West 55th Street, which remains on hold).
Terms: 261,847 square feet
Tenant: Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
Landlord: Tishman Speyer
Broker: CBRE
Submarket: Columbus Circle
#12: 1633 Broadway (Registered under LEED-EB: OM on June 19, 2009; also received 2009 Energy Star label).
Terms: 202,495 square feet, 15 years
Tenant: Showtime Networks Inc.
Landlord: Paramount Group
Broker: CBRE
Submarket: Times Square
#15: 1 World Trade Center (Pursuing Gold under LEED for New Construction).
Terms: 190,810 square feet
Tenant: China Center (only private tenant thus far to sign for space at Freedom Tower; will create business and culture center across 64th through 69th floors)
Landlord: The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Broker: Jones Lang LaSalle
Submarket: World Trade Center
#16: 731 Lexington Avenue (Registered under LEED-EB: O&M in September of 2007).
Terms: 176,000 square feet (renewal and expansion; sublease from Citigroup)
Tenant: Bloomberg L.P.
Landlord: Vornado Realty Trust
Brokers: CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield
Submarket: Plaza District
#17: 1251 Avenue of the Americas (Registered under LEED-EB 2.0 in May of 2008).
Terms: 169,200 square feet (renewal)
Tenant: Mizuho Corporate Bank, Ltd. (looked at space in LEED Gold-certified 7 World Trade Center and LEED Gold-hopeful 11 Times Square before renewing)
Landlord: Mitsui Fudosan America
Brokers: CBRE, Newmark Knight Frank
Submarket: Plaza District
#18: 1271 Avenue of the Americas (Registered under LEED-EB 2.0 in May of 2008).
Terms: 166,094 square feet
Tenant: Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
Landlord: Rockefeller Group Development Corp.
Brokers: CBRE, Studley
Submarket: Plaza District
