[Updated at 3:25 p.m. with comment from Tishman Construction] Tishman Construction and SL Green Realty have filed a $2 million lawsuit against United Hispanic Construction Workers, alleging the group has illegally harassed and intimated employees during demonstrations at Tishman’s 100 Park Avenue offices.

According to the suit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court Dec. 9, the Bronx-based union has been picketing outside of the building, which is owned by SL Green, since Oct. 1, alleging that Tishman has failed to hire women and minority contractors at various sites around the city.

Tishman and SL Green that vans with up to 25 picketers have illegally parked in front of the offices and picketers have yelled at workers, while storing baseball bats inside the vehicles. [more]

Thanks to the economic downturn, rents for office space on Park Avenue declined to $59 a square foot in the fourth quarter of 2010, compared to $118 a square foot in the first quarter of 2008, according to a new study by Jones Lang LaSalle. The $59 decrease in Park Avenue rents was the greatest of any submarket in Midtown. On Sixth Avenue, for example, average rents fell only $35, according to the study. “It just happened to be that a lot of the industry that was most impacted by the recession was financial services, and financial services in Midtown had big chunks of space on Park Avenue,” Steven Durels, who handles leasing for SL Green, which owns 100 Park Avenue, told the Wall Street Journal. [more]

Wells Fargo’s asset-based lending subsidiary is expanding its office space at SL Green’s 100 Park Avenue for the fourth time in three years, the Observer reported. The latest deal, which adds 34,044 square feet, or the entire 14th floor, brings the company’s tally to 102,805 square feet at the 36-story property. Wells Fargo is now one of the largest tenants at the newly redeveloped trophy tower, named the “Best Renovated Building” of 2009 by the Building Owners and Managers Association. [more]

Asking rents are on the rise at some of the city’s most sought-after office buildings, in a move by landlords that tests the waters of the nascent rebound in leasing activity, up 84 percent in the first quarter from one year ago, according to Cushman & Wakefield. One month ago, SL Green Realty, the largest landlord in the city, increased rents by 5 to 7 percent on its most high-end offerings, including the tower floors at 100 Park Avenue. At the Seagram Building and the Lever House on Park Avenue, asking rents are up about 5 percent. Other buildings that have seen upticks include 712 Fifth Avenue, 540 Madison Avenue and the upper floors of 1 Grand Central Plaza. The trend is confined to the very top-tier of the market, however. Office vacancies are still on the rise in Manhattan, and rents in the overall office market are declining further still, down to $55.38 per square foot — the lowest level in three years — in the first quarter, according to Cushman & Wakefield. [Crain’s]

If some commercial real estate experts are feeling optimistic, then SL Green Realty might be downright giddy. The landlord said that it’s seeing an uptick in leasing activity — and it plans to take advantage of the newly favorable scenario by raising taking rents on its upscale properties by as much as 7 percent, according to Crain’s. Steven Durels, executive vice president with SL Green, said that the company’s premium properties are getting more attention for the first time in a long while. “We are getting a lot of offers on our better spaces,” Durels said. “That hasn’t happened in over a year.” While the taking rent uptick will affect just 30 percent of the landlord’s 25 million-square-foot, 30-building portfolio, the policy change will apply to some of the company’s most high-profile properties, including the top floors of 810 Seventh Avenue and the tower floors of 100 Park Avenue. SL Green says it has the clients to back up its changes — while the first half of 2009 had been dismal for the landlord, the last two quarters of the year resulted in a 56 percent surge in leasing activity over the beginning of the year. [more]

Office building owners, who were insulated from the downturn at first because of long-term leases, are now slashing rents and piling on incentives to retain tenants whose contracts are up. At Boston Properties’ GM Building in Manhattan, new tenants are paying 17 percent less in gross rents than former tenants did for office space there. SL Green Realty, which owns dozens of Manhattan properties including 100 Park Avenue and 1515 Broadway, offered 6.9 months of free rent and doubled its construction allowance for new lease signers during the third quarter. Sweet tenant deals come with a hefty price tag for owners, though. SL Green’s funds from operations dropped 28 percent in the third quarter year-over-year. According to SL Green CEO Marc Holliday, the large inventory of cheaper sublease space available has been a major contributing factor to declining rents and the need for incentives. Once that inventory is absorbed, he expects the office leasing market to improve. [WSJ]