Michael Kors sews up 40,000 feet at 335 Madison

Designer brand Michael Kors has inked a 40,553-square-foot short-term lease at Milstein Properties’ 335 Madison Avenue, The Real Deal has learned.

Michael Kors will pay rents in the mid-$20s per square foot in the 19-month sublease deal at the 1.1 million-square-foot office building, located between 43rd and 44th streets. The sublessor was law firm Akerman Senterfitt, which is paying more than twice the rent it will charge Michael Kors, according to data from CompStak. Michael Kors’ low rent is likely due to the extremely short term of the sublease and the fact that Akerman may have excess space at the building, given that they signed for 48,000 square feet at Jared Kushner’s 666 Fifth Avenue last year.

Representatives for the law firm didn’t respond to requests for comment by press time, and a spokesperson for Michael Kors declined to comment.

Michael Kors currently has about 120,000 square feet at Tishman Speyer’s 11 West 42nd Street, where it has been expanding steadily since first moving in 2003. It is currently in advanced talks to take a further 36,785 square feet on the entire 17th floor at that building, according to a source familiar with the transaction, who added that the brand may be on the hunt for a long-term headquarters where it can consolidate all its space. It remains unclear which brokers worked on that deal, but data from CompStak indicates that Michael Kors will pay rents of about $50 per square foot.

Akerman was represented in The 335 Madison Avenue sublease deal by a Vortex Group team led by Frederick Marek and Scott Grayson, according to a listing on real estate website Agorafy. Michael Kors was represented by Cushman & Wakefield’s Glenn Markman. One of the brokers involved confirmed the deal but all three brokers declined to comment. The building is currently home to Facebook, which will be jumping ship for 770 Broadway later this year.