Minskoff snags university tenant at 51 Astor Place

St. John’s University has inked a deal for 71,000 square feet at Edward Minskoff’s 51 Astor Place.

The space will house the university’s School of Risk Management, which includes a library, according to St. John’s. A spokesperson for the school declined to disclose the brokers on the deal or the agreed-upon rent per square foot, telling The Real Deal only that “the terms of the lease were very favorable because a portion of the building was zoned for educational purposes.”

Peter Riguardi, Paul Glickman, Mitchell Konsker and Cynthia Wasserberger of Jones Lang LaSalle previously represented the landlord in negotiations with St. John’s, and asking rents had been between $88 and $115 per square foot, as the New York Post reported earlier this year.

The school is relocating from its current location at 101 Murray Street, where it will remain through the 2013 through 2014 academic year.

The deal marks a continued upswing for Minskoff, whose 51 Astor Place got off to a slow leasing start when the market was trudging out of the recession. The 12-story building has since landed a number of tenants, gearing itself towards Midtown South’s burgeoning tech sector. — Julie Strickland