By Daniel Geiger
Centerline Capital Group, a multifamily housing finance company, is in talks to relocate from midtown to 100 Church Street.
The company, which appeared to teeter near insolvency during the recession and the credit crunch, but has since bounced back, would take about 60,000 s/f in the deal, sources say.
Located currently at 625 Madison Avenue, the firm is negotiating with the building’s landlord, SL Green, to terminate its lease there in order to move. Helping the deal is that another tenant in 625 Madison Avenue, Polo Ralph Lauren, one of the 570,000 s/f building’s largest tenants, is interested in taking Centerline’s space. SL Green also owns 100 Church as well, so the company, Manhattan’s largest commercial landlord, is amenable to the relocation.
Formerly controlled by Stephen Ross, the billionaire chief executive of the real estate development and investment firm, the Related Companies, Centerline rocketed to success during the real estate bubble in the then-booming loan origination business. The company signed a lease at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in 2007, the height of the market, for about 100,000 s/f and rents that started at $125 per s/f and climbed to $140 per s/f incrementally over the life of the deal.
But when when the recession hit, the company canceled the move in what was likely a pricey termination and stayed put at 625 Madison Avenue. In 2010, the banking and real estate investment company Island Capital Group refinanced Centerline and acquired the company’s vast loan servicing business, which may offer Island Capital a pipeline of distressed real estate to acquire. Whatever the rationale, the deal appeared to turn the page on Centerline’s financial troubles.
A person familiar with the potential relocation said that moving to 100 Church Street would allow Centerline to save money on rent. 100 Church Street has large blocks of vacancy that SL Green has been eager to fill and that the company is consequently marketing at competitive rents, sources say. Centerline would take about 60,000 s/f in the relocation, more space than it currently needs, but that would accommodate future growth, a source said.
A media contact at Centerline said she couldn’t comment on the potential move. Sources at SL Green couldn’t be reached for comment.
A leasing team from the real estate services company CB Richard Ellis led by CBRE executives Greg Kraut and David Hollander represent Centerline. Neither could be reached for comment.
