By Orlando Lee Rodriguez
Cushman & Wakefield announced on Thursday that investment and operating company RXR Realty entered into a 99-year lease for 75 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown.
The Cushman & Wakefield team included Chairman of Global Brokerage, Bruce Mosler; Head of Corporate Finance, Michael Rotchford; Executive Vice President of Investment Sales, Helen Hwang; and Executive Director of Corporate Finance, Louis Wolfowitz.
“As one of New York City’s premier real estate operators, RXR Realty will bring strong development, leasing and management expertise to 75 Rockefeller Plaza,” said Arthur Mirante, Tri-State President of Avison Young, who also worked on the deal. “[I] look forward to seeing the restoration of this landmark Manhattan office building.”
Cushman & Wakefield represented the landlord for the transaction. Shearman & Sterling LLP provided legal counsel to ownership.
RXR Realty says that the 630,000 square rentable square feet building will undergo major renovations beginning in the summer of 2014, when Time Warner’s net lease expires. All new construction is expected to be finished by the 3rd quarter of 2015.
“We are honored to have the opportunity to create a modern classic asset at 75 Rockefeller Plaza,” said Scott Rechler, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of RXR in a statement. “We fully appreciate the historic attributes of the building, but with that in mind, we also are very excited about our opportunity to completely modernize everything inside the building. When renovations are complete it will be the newest, most advanced, LEED Certified building in all of Rockefeller Center.”
Plans are for the building to receive a new lobby, elevators and bathrooms as well as electrical and plumbing systems. Ceilings will sit at 9 feet when all renovations are complete. Retail will be expanded to be multi-floor.
The 33 story office tower, built in 1947, was the first fully air conditioned building in New York. Originally called the ‘ESSO Building’ for the Standard Oil Company, the building has been one of the homes of the Time Warner Corporation since 1993.
