By Daniel Geiger
Xerox has taken a small space at the midtown office building 64 West 48th Street, according to sources.
The company has leased part of the building’s eighth floor, a roughly 4,000 s/f space. Asking rents at the property are in the $30s per s/f, though it wasn’t clear by press time exactly what rate Xerox negotiated to pay in the deal.
Xerox, known for its printers and photocopying machines, and for being such an effective marketer of these products that its brand name has become a verb, is using the space as overflow for its nearby New York City headquarters at 245 Park Avenue.
The company leases several floors at 245 Park Avenue, primarily for sales and administrative functions, according to Xerox spokesman, and a floor at the building’s base near ground level that houses a large showroom of its products for visitors and demonstrations.
64 West 48th Street is a roughly 130,000 s/f building owned by Muss Development LLC, the real estate company owned by the Muss family.
The property has a number of vacancies, including the entire ninth floor, a 7,800 s/f space, the 9,000 s/f sixth floor and 4,000 s/f on the 15th floor. A leasing team from the real estate services firm Colliers International has made progress filling some of the building’s openings. Although its floors are smaller than than the jumbo sized office buildings in the near vicinity at Rockefeller Center and along Sixth Avenue, 64 West 48th Street has attracted attention among smaller space users and tenants looking for less expensive options. Peter Shakalis, a Colliers executive part of the company’s leasing team at the building, said that some tenants have come to the property to bifurcate their offices so that certain portions of their operations can be located in the building’s more cost-effective space.
“This is a great location for a tenant who wants to locate a back office or part of their operations in a close by but affordable location, especially Rockefeller Center tenants,” Shakalis said.
The Colliers International team has leased a number of spaces in the building in the past six months according to Shakalis, including a two-floor, 18,000 s/f deal in the fourth quarter of 2010 with the company On Press Graphics.
Muss has also made improvements to the property.
The company has undertaken a multimillion dollar capital program to restore the lobby, replace the building’s windows, install new elevators and HVAC systems, upgrade common areas and bathrooms, and the improve the facade according to a spokesman for the landlord.
