Law firm exiting 666 Fifth Ave amid $400M overhaul

One of the tenants at 666 Fifth Avenue is leaving the tower for Sixth Avenue.

Law firm Akerman has signed a lease for about 100,000 square feet at Mitsui Fudosan America’s 1251 Sixth Avenue, sources told The Real Deal.

Asking rent for the space was $95 per square foot and the lease is for a term of 15 years, according to a source.

A spokesperson for Hines, which manages the property, confirmed the deal. A representative for Akerman could not immediately comment and a representative for Mitsui declined to comment. A Newmark Knight Frank team of David Falk and Peter Shimkin negotiated the deal for the landlord.

Following several years of uncertainty, 666 Fifth Avenue is primed for a makeover. Brookfield Property Partners acquired the ground lease on the 41-story tower last year for $1.286 billion from Kushner Companies, which had struggled to refinance the aging property.

Several tenants in the building have either left or are looking to leave. Billionaire Israel Englander’s hedge fund, Millennium Management, signed a deal last year to relocate from 666 Fifth into 300,000 square feet at Boston Properties’ 399 Park Avenue.

Brookfield plans to invest another $400 million renovating the tower, which it will rebrand as 660 Fifth Avenue.

Akerman moved into 666 Fifth Avenue in 2012, taking about 48,000 square feet on a sublease with another law firm.

Other tenants at Mitsui’s 1251 Sixth include Japanese investment bank Mizuho Americas and the International Council of Shopping Centers.