Tishman Speyer passes on Midtown East redev opportunity to keep anchor tenant

The rezoning of Midtown East, approved in 2017, is expected to add millions of square feet of office space to the neighborhood. But one building won’t be taking part in the expansion rush, after its owner decided to hold onto the current tenant.

Tishman Speyer scrapped plans to redevelop 300 Park Avenue after consumer goods conglomerate Colgate-Palmolive renewed about 242,000 square feet at the building for its global headquarters, Crain’s reported.

The building at 300 Park Avenue gave Colgate-Palmolive “the most flexibility and continuity as possible,” said CBRE’s Mary Ann Tighe, who represented the tenant in the deal.

Colgate-Palmolive restructured its lease to reduce its footprint at the 26-story tower. The company had been leasing about 312,000 square feet in the building, according to data from CoStar cited by Crain’s.

Under the Midtown East rezoning, the existing 645,483-square-foot building could be expanded by another 333,455 square feet. To keep this option open, Tishman had recently been inserting demolition clauses into new leases at the property, according to Crain’s. But when Colgate-Palmolive objected to such a clause, the landlord relented.

Tishman Speyer was previously reported to be the lead candidate to develop JPMorgan Chase’s new headquarters at 270 Park Avenue, the first major redevelopment to be announced in the neighborhood post-rezoning. [Crain’s] — Kevin Sun