By: Hadassa Kalatizadeh
Commercial leasing in Manhattan showed new signs of life, particularly in Midtown’s Apex building, following a lackluster first quarter of 2022 in which the lasting effects of the pandemic remained apparent.
As reported by the NY Post, a newly-inked lease in Midtown Manhattan’s Apex, at 1155 Sixth Ave., was sealed for 77,000 more square feet of office space. The 40-story building, which has a total of about 740,000 square-feet of space, recently underwent a $130 million renovation by the Durst Organization. In the last year, roughly 200,000 square feet of leases were signed at the building, bringing total occupancy after this new deal to an impressive 70 percent.
The new lease was taken on by Global Relay USA, a division of a Canada-based company that provides financial companies with tech services. The firm is leaving its current small office at 286 Madison Ave. to take on five-stories at the Apex– floors 38 through 42. The 42nd floor has been designed as a penthouse pavilion featuring an outdoor wraparound terrace and a thirteen-foot glass wall that automatically tints during the day to diminish glare.
The asking rent for the top floor was $150 per square foot, while the other floors in the deal were asking $115 per square foot. Another tenant who signed a lease at the building right before the pandemic struck is R3. The enterprise blockchain software firm signed on for 17,246 square feet of space at the tower. Check Point Software Technologies also took on 9,663 square feet of space. Asking rents for the floors in those two deals were asking $95 to $100 per square foot. Durst President Jody Durst noted that Sixth Avenue north of Bryant Park “has steadily been attracting tenants in the technology industry.”
As per the Post, the 1984 building’s capital improvements included a new double height lobby entrance, and the new top-floor penthouse, which had previously just housed mechanical equipment, said Durst leasing representatives Tom Bow and Rocco Romeo. The two brokers along with Tanya Grimaldo represented the landlord in the new 77,000square lease. The tenant was represented by Colliers’ Michael Cohen, Howard Kaplowitz and John Brasier. Cohen commented to say, that Global Relay was lured into the deal based on Apex’s “200-seat, column-free auditorium,” the outdoor space and a “commercial quality kitchen within a stone’s throw of Bryant Park.”
