Tourneau, the high-end purveyor of watches, is ditching its long-time Penn Station digs. After more than 40 years at the corner of 34th Street and Seventh Avenue, Tourneau representatives said it’s ducking out due to a dispute over lease renewal terms with the landlord, Vornado Realty Trust, although Vornado declined to comment. While Tourneau said its looking for another space in the city, it has yet to decide where. Tourneau currently has a lease at at 510 Madison Avenue, where it’s trying to get out of its contract. [more]

SL Green, which recently purchased the construction loan on Harry Macklowe’s 510 Madison Avenue in a move that some experts said was a major step toward taking control of the new, 350,000-square-foot office tower, is set to pay a hefty price for its involvement, sources told the Post. The $185 million in outstanding debt was purchased from Union Labor Life Insurance for $170 million, a price tag that one source noted was “not that substantial a discount.” Now, SL Green will have to fund $30 million in unfinished work on the property, plus foot a $30 to $40 million bill for a reserve for tenant improvement allowances and brokers’ commissions. The building’s only tenants thus far are investment firm Jay Goldman and watch retailer Tourneau, both of which are embroiled in battles to renege on their contracts. [Post]

Tourneau is trying to get out of its 510 Madison Avenue lease

Three months after an incoming tenant in Macklowe Properties’
fire-damaged 510 Madison Avenue announced it wanted to cancel its
lease, a second tenant-to-be is trying to do the same. International watch retailer Tourneau is trying to break a lease it
signed last July for a 3,300-square-foot ground-floor retail location
in the Macklowe building at the corner of Madison Avenue and 53rd
Street, court papers say, which is still under construction. The watch company, citing an obscure legal theory, wants to break the
lease because it remains unclear when it would be able to move in to
the building, and also wants its $148,683 deposit returned, a lawsuit
filed April 13 in Manhattan State Supreme Court says.
[more]