Ad firm renewal marks city’s third-largest deal of 2010


From left, Lee Feld and Bruce Mosler (credit: Kaufman Center) and 1285 Sixth Avenue (credit: PropertyShark)

In the third-largest leasing deal of the year, global advertising group BBDO Worldwide signed a renewal lease for 360,000 square feet at its headquarters at 1285 Sixth Avenue this month, according to a source with knowledge of the deal.

The only larger leasing transactions closed so far this year are for 406,000 square feet taken by law firm Proskauer Rose at 11 Times Square, and a 385,759-square-foot lease by Jones Apparel Group at 1411 Broadway, data from CoStar Group shows.

BBDO’s 10-year lease at the 1.8 million-square-foot tower, located between 51st and 52nd streets, starts in 2012, another source said. The ad agency referred questions to its parent company Omnicom Group, based in Midtown. Omnicom did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

BBDO was represented by Lee Feld of Feld Real Estate, who was advised by Bruce Mosler, co-chairman of Cushman & Wakefield.

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The building, owned by a partnership of insurance giant AXA Equitable Life Insurance and institutional investors from J.P. Morgan Asset Management, was represented by Peter Riguardi, president of the New York office of Jones Lang LaSalle.

The brokers either declined to comment or did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other major tenants in the building include Swiss bank UBS and law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, which signed the second-largest lease deal of 2009, for 550,000 square feet at 1285 Sixth Avenue.

Last month, Real Estate Weekly reported that the deal was expected to close soon.