Hong Kong company finally signs 490,000-square-foot lease in Empire State Building

Li & Fung, a Hong Kong-based trading company, signed a lease yesterday for 490,000 square feet in the Empire State Building, the largest deal of the new year and one which would have also topped last year’s list, the Post reported. The deal comes after months of negotiation between the landlord and tenant. The lease includes several floors in the base of the building, which has asking rents ranging from the mid-$40s a square foot to the high $50s, according to CoStar. Anthony Malkin, president of W&H Properties, which owns the Empire State Building, declined to comment, as did Li & Fung. Li & Fung already leases space in Malkin’s 1333 Broadway and 1359 Broadway. Mitchell Konsker and Alexander Chudnoff, who left Cushman & Wakefield yesterday for Jones Lang LaSalle, represented Li & Fung. William Cohen and Ryan Kass of Newmark Knight Frank represented the Empire State Building, which is now undergoing a modernization. The building just signed a contract with Green Mountain Energy to become the city’s largest 100-percent wind-powered commercial user.
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