After months of controversy surrounding Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, embattled group Tishman Speyer Properties is finally getting some good news. Over 1.05 million square feet of Tishman-owned space was leased in December, the Post’s Lois Weiss noted today, and on the heels of yesterday’s news that CB Richard Ellis had renewed its 125,000-square-foot lease at the firm’s MetLife Building, more lease signings are making news. Simon & Schuster has reportedly signed a deal to extend its lease for five more years at Tishman’s 1230 Sixth Avenue, while Michael Kors has extended his lease for 15 more years at 11 West 42nd Street. Although Robert Speyer, president of Tishman, wouldn’t comment on the tenants for Weiss’ report, he did say that he believes “rents are back to 2005 [levels].”

After 25 years, the Municipal Art Society of New York is swapping its Villard Houses headquarters at the Palace Hotel for the Steinway Hall Building at 111 West 57th Street. The non-profit urban design organization inked a 10-year, 12,749-square-foot lease for the 16th floor of the Warren & Wetmore-designed landmark, where it will replace architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox, which is moving to Tishman Speyer’s 11 West 42nd Street. The entire Steinway Hall Building is in the midst of a rejuvenation right now, said Mark Lauzon of Cushman & Wakefield, who represented Steinway in the transaction. He said non-profits and foundations like the Municipal Art Society are flocking there in the wake of the Economist’s relocation to 730 Third Avenue. The asking rent on the new Municipal Art Society space was in the low $50s per foot. [more]