Anthony Malkin and the Walgreens space at the Empire State Building

Walgreens has swapped its 10,000 square-foot store on the ground-floor concourse of the Empire State Building for the same amount of space on the second floor, the New York Post reported. The new space will have a dedicated entrance for visitors to the building’s observatory, who can pop in on their way back to street level.

Malkin Holdings, which has been attempting to bring New York’s most iconic tower back to its glory days since 2006, will convert the former former drugstore space into a fitness center exclusively for building tenants.

“I talked to Walgreens over 18 months ago. I told them, ‘There’s a vacant Chase bank branch right above you, and 4 million people a year from the observatory walk right by it,” said President Anthony Malkin. [more]

Anthony Malkin, president of Malkin Holdings, said that he learned in the recent process of retrofitting his company’s Empire State Building that it’s not about the greening.

“I think we learned that in the end it’s not about the greening but about money and about returns,” Malkin said at last night’s YJP Real Estate Investment Summit 2011 (see photos above). “If you put a green waterfall in your lobby it’s not going to change the world but if you can provide a greater than 40 percent reduction in the use of energy and save your tenants money by being efficient that makes a difference.” — Marc Becker [more]

The Malkin family is feuding again over a piece of the Empire State Building, this time with Skyride Associates, which runs the 16-year-old helicopter tour simulation ride on the second floor. According to the New York Times, the unlicensed street vendors who sell and promote the Kevin Bacon-narrated attraction have been the target of a recent police crackdown outside the building, having been issued 14 summonses and hit with six arrests since April, and Skyride believes the Malkins are the cause. On Monday, Skyride, which emerged from bankruptcy in February and pays more than $3.5 million annually in rent, filed a petition in State Supreme Court in Manhattan to stop the crackdown, as it says its vendors have never before needed licenses to sell tickets. Yesterday, a judge granted the company a temporary restraining order. Walter Threadgill, Skyride’s majority partner, told the Times that he thinks the Malkins are trying to oust the 15-minute attraction because it doesn’t fit with their recent efforts to revamp and rebrand the building with more upscale tenants. (The Real Deal chronicled the Malkins’ attempts to transform the building in the April issue.) [more]

International beauty and fragrance giant Coty has leased an additional 101,736 square feet at the Empire State Building in order to consolidate its American headquarters, Tony Malkin, president of Malkin Holdings, owner and asset manager of the property, announced today.

The company, which represents brands such as Calvin Klein, Karl Lagerfeld and Kenneth Cole, currently occupies 86,000 square feet on the entire 14th floor of the iconic property, and most of the 15th floor. It will expand to also occupy the entire 16th and 17th floors in April 2012, when it relocates from its other spaces at One and Two Park Avenue, between 32nd and 33rd streets.

The asking rent was $49 per square foot, landlord W & H Properties told The Real Deal. TRD [more]

Click to expand the timeline

From the May issue: With 7.6 million square feet of commercial space under construction at the World Trade Center site, the New York City skyline may appear to be adding an unprecedented amount of office space. But a closer look shows that office builders were far busier in the previous periods of Manhattan history.

New Yorkers accustomed to cranes looming overhead might be surprised to hear that Manhattan commercial construction is in one of the slowest periods of the past century, according to a recent report by Newmark Knight Frank. In fact, Manhattan lost more office space than it gained in the aughts, according to the report, which details how the city’s commercial construction has ebbed and flowed over the past 100 years.

And even as commercial lending begins to rebound, experts say they don’t expect a huge burst of activity in the next few years, despite activity at the World Trade Center site and, eventually, Hudson Yards. [more]

Business networking platform LinkedIn has signed a seven-year deal to lease the Empire State Building’s entire 25th floor, Crain’s reported. The deal is a coup for the Malkin family, the owner and asset manager of the city’s most famous office building, which is still mostly filled with hundreds of tiny, mom-and-pop tenants. As The Real Deal chronicled in a profile of the building last month, the Malkins have been furiously trying to transform the 2.9 million-square-foot property into one that attracts the kind of big-name, big-money tenants that its 80-year history can command. [more]

Officials from the city’s Economic Development Corp. met with the leaders of several Chinese firms yesterday for a Midtown Manhattan real estate office tour that included One Bryant Park and the Empire State Building, part of a larger, recent effort to attract foreign tenants to New York. According to the Wall Street Journal, the city is focusing on companies it sees as having big potential for growth. It has already courted a group of technology start-ups from London, and has plans to host businesses from Singapore and India in the coming months. [more]

The Empire State Building

The Empire State Building is set to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification amidst its $550 million renovation to boost its sustainability. The changes are designed to decrease energy consumption by 38 percent, and include green features such as better-insulated windows and an upgraded air-conditioning system, according to Crain’s. Anthony Malkin, president of Malkin Holdings, an owner of the Empire State building and its assets manager, said that the changes were motivated by a desire to save energy and that the renovated building would merit a gold rating. A spokesperson for the U.S. Buildings Council, however, said that the organization does not disclose which rating a building will receive ahead of time. Malkin and his father Peter Malkin this week said they plan to create a publicly-traded company comprised of numerous New York City buildings, including the Empire State Building.
[Crain's] [more]

Tony Malkin and the Empire State Building

Father and son owners of the Empire State Building, Peter and Tony Malkin, are planning to create a publicly traded company comprised of numerous New York City buildings in their real estate portfolio, according to the New York Times. At the forefront of the collection of buildings, is the city’s most famous tower. As previously reported by The Real Deal, since buying out their partners in the Empire State Building, the Malkins have ratcheted up their efforts, and have opened their wallets, to transform the building from an aging monument with hundreds of small tenants, to a leading destination for major New York City businesses. [more]

From left: 30 Rockefeller Center, a rendering of Four World Trade Center and the Empire State Building

Manhattan’s commercial office market shows signs of a long-awaited
rebound, as new leasing activity jumped to 7.6 million square feet during
the first quarter of 2011, marking the highest figure since the third quarter of
2006, according to data released today by Cushman & Wakefield.
The improving market helped property sales more than double to $5.5
billion from $2.3 billion in the year-ago quarter, while the office vacancy
rate fell to 10 percent from 10.5 percent at the end of December. Leasing
was up by 1.9 million square feet, or 34 percent higher than during first-
quarter 2010.
“On top of a very strong fourth quarter for new leasing activity, we’ve
kicked off 2011 with even more momentum from pent up demand and
decisive moves on the part of Manhattan businesses and organizations,”
said Joseph Harbert, COO for Cushman & Wakefield’s New York Metro
region.
[more]