SL Green profits rise on rental income

SL Green Realty, the real estate investment trust that is the city’s largest owner of office properties, reported an increase in earnings for the fourth quarter, according to Bloomberg News. The landlord said in a statement yesterday that its funds from operations rose to $74.7 million last quarter, or 93 cents per share. That’s up from $69.1 million, or 87 cents per share, in the fourth quarter of 2009, and SL Green attributed the uptick to its growing rental income. SL Green added significantly to its Manhattan holdings in 2010, picking up 600 Lexington Avenue and 125 Park Avenue and increasing its stake in the land that sits below the Lipstick Building at 885 Third Avenue. Meanwhile, rents have been on the upswing, with Manhattan average asking rents at $48.32 per square foot at the end of the December, 1.5 percent above their four-year low in May, according to CB Richard Ellis. [Bloomberg]