BY LIANA GREY
A team from Newmark Knight Frank has been named the exclusive leasing agent for 230,000 s/f of defunct Lehman space at the Time Life Building.
The available space at 1271 Avenue of the Americas, the Class A Rock Center tower where television’s fictitious Mad Men have their office, includes four full floors of high-end, built, move-in condition space, with a term through December 2017.
NKF is marketing the space on behalf of Time Warner, which has priced it to move quickly, according to Neil Goldmacher, an NKF vice chairman who is handling the assignment along with David Falk, president of the firm’s tri-state region, and brokers Peter Shimkin, Brian Goldman and Daniel Madison.
According to brokers familiar with the building, most of space had been occupied by Lehman Brothers until the firm collapsed in 2008 and had to give up its lease in bankruptcy court.
In 2010, magazine publisher Hachette Filipacchi took 132,000 s/f of former Lehman space at the building, relocating its headquarters from 1633 Broadway. Newmark brokers Fred Trump and Mark Weiss represented Hachette Filipacchi in the deal, according to the New York Post.
Among the highlights of the assignment, according to Falk, are the 35th and 38th floors, which have high-end installations and panoramic views, ideal for financial services companies and law firms, according to the brokers. With their exposed ceilings, floors 16 and 17 are ideal more suited to creative users.
“This is a unique, cost-effective opportunity for financial tenants and law firms, as well as creative-type tenants that are priced out of the Midtown South market,” said Falk.
“Firms can be up and running right away, without having to spend any capital, in a premier Midtown building.”
Subtenants will have access to the building’s amenities, including a cafeteria, conference facility, state-of-the-art auditorium and outdoor terrace.
Current tenants at the 53-year-old building include SportsNet New York television studios on the ground floor, Time inc, and subtenants CBS, E-Trade and Ipsos.
The Rockefeller Group renovated the building in the early 2000s to include a heating and cooling plant that can switch among natural gas, steam and electricity, depending on fuel prices.
The public plaza and lobby, which features large murals and tiles mimicking the sidewalks of Copacabana Beach in Rio De Janiero, also underwent an upgrade.
