Tech firm to take up Aetna’s huge space at 61 Ninth Avenue

Thank you, Yext.

Online brand management company Yext announced on Monday that it will be taking up all 142,500 square feet of office space at Aurora Capital Associates and Vornado Realty Trust’s 61 Ninth Avenue, which was abandoned by Aetna after its acquisition by CVS Health Group in 2017.

Yext was reported to be in talks to sublease the space from Aetna in December. The company’s initial monthly base rent will be about $1 million, and will increase to around $1.1 million in 2025.

This works out to an annual rent of about $93 per square foot after 2025, well below previously reported asking rents of $150 per square foot.

The Wall Street Journal first reported that the deal had closed.

Yext is currently headquartered at SL Green Realty’s 1 Madison Avenue, where its roughly 1,000 employees occupy about 100,000 square feet on the fifth floor. The firm says it aims to move to its new Meatpacking District headquarters next March, with plans to create 500 new jobs over the next five years.

SL Green is planning a major redevelopment of 1 Madison Avenue after Credit Suisse’s lease expires in December 2020. The plans include 18 new floors of office space, to be built as-of-right using air rights.

Starbucks opened a three-story Reserve Roastery at 61 Ninth Avenue in December. [WSJ] — Kevin Sun