Visiting Nurse Service wrapping up 300K sf deal at Daily News Building

The Visiting Nurse Service of New York has an appointment with the Daily News Building, where it is finalizing a deal to book 308,000 square feet, The Real Deal has learned. 

The 123-year-old institution, which cares for about 75,000 patients each day, has a deal pending to acquire a leasehold condominium interest covering several floors at the base of SL Green Realty’s 37-story, 1.2 million-square-foot property at 220 East 42nd Street[TRData], according to sources.

The 30-year deal covers the second and third floors, the fifth through seventh floors, and part of the ground floor.

A team at Cushman and Wakefield led by Tara Stacom is representing both sides in the negotiations. Neither Stacom nor SL Green could be reached for comment. Financial terms of the deal are unclear.

VNS, the country’s largest nonprofit home-healthcare provider, will be relocating to the landmarked tower between Second and Third Avenues from its longtime home at Jamestown Properties’ 1250 Broadway, where it currently has 320,000 square feet across 15 floors.

The Nurse Service has been a tenant at Jamestown’s 39-story, 721,000-square-foot building on Broadway between 31st and 32nd streets since 1994. In 2005, it renewed for 300,000 square feet with an option to expand. SL Green was the building’s landlord at the time.

The REIT sold the tower for $310 million in 2008 to Jamestown, which is now looking to sell the building for $600 million, as TRD reported earlier this month.

The Nurse Service’s lease at 1250 Broadway expires in 2018. Asking rents in the tower were reportedly in the mid-to-high $30s per square foot when the nonprofit renewed more than a decade ago. It is currently paying about 43 percent below market rent.

At the News Building, the global marketing-firm Omnicom Group renewed its 167,000-square-foot lease in January. Other tenants include the television news station WPIX, Tribune Company and several units of the United Nations.