Time’s flying shakes up Midtown office market

Rockefeller Group tasks CBRE with finding tenants to fill up to 1.9M square feet of space

From left: Time Life Building, Mary Ann Tighe, Howard Fiddle
From left: Time Life Building, Mary Ann Tighe, Howard Fiddle

The search is on to find tenants for the Time Life building.

The exit of  Time Inc. from 1271 Avenue of the Americas will leave up to 1.9 million square feet up for grabs.  Building owner the Rockefeller Group tapped CBRE to exclusively market the building.

Time’s move out date remains unknown, but the CBRE team leading the push —  comprised of Mary Ann Tighe, Howard Fiddle and John Maher – tells the New York Post its expects to have the entire building back by December 31, 2017. That’s when Time’s net lease on the building expires.

After months of negotiations Time announced in May that it would sign a lease for 700,000 square feet at Brookfield Office Properties, where it will pay a lower rent.

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Asking rents at 1271 Sixth Avenue have yet to be determined, Maher told the Post, but a capital improvement plan to be drawn up by Rockefeller Group will play a part in pricing.

Falling availability could also bolster prices. CBRE reports first-quarter availability this year fell more than two percentage points to 11.1 percent from the year ago period.

Office space in the building is currently wrapped up in a welter of short-term subleases, The Real Deal reported in February.  [NYP] — Tom DiChristopher