Durst’s One Five One inks 158K sf lease for law firm tenant

Former Condé Nast building more than 92 percent leased

Durst Organization Chairman Douglas Durst, Venable LLP Chairman Stuart Ingis and 151 West 42nd Street (Getty, Venable)
Durst Organization Chairman Douglas Durst, Venable LLP Chairman Stuart Ingis and 151 West 42nd Street (Getty, Venable)

The Durst Organization has a new tenant in One Five One, formerly known as 4 Times Square.

Venable LLP, a Washington, D.C.-based law firm, inked a 15-year lease for nearly 158,000 square feet at the office building, according to the New York Post. Venable will occupy floors 48 through 52, in addition to 11,000 square feet in concourse space.

Asking rents for the lease at 151 West 42nd Street ranged from $100 to $135 per square foot, the Post reported. Newmark’s Moshe Sukenik and Eric Zemachson brokered the deal on behalf of Venable. The Durst Leasing team was represented by executive vice president Tom Bow, senior managing director Rocco Romeo and associate director Tanya Grimaldo.

Venable will be moving from two different offices on Sixth Avenue, increasing its space for its expanding team on the heels of a merger with Fitzpatrick Cella Harper & Scinto. It is expected to make its move during the second half of 2022.

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The law firm, which employs 150 attorneys at its New York City office, will also get to utilize a 3,000-square-foot wraparound terrace on the 49th floor.

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After Condé Nast departed the building for One World Trade Center, Durst threw $150 million into capital improvements to One Five One including a renovated lobby, a new food hall and LEED Gold certification.

Other tenants at One Five One include TikTok’s U.S. headquarters, BMO and Nasdaq. The Post reports the tower is more than 92 percent leased.

The video-sharing app inked a lease with the Durst Organization for 232,000 square feet at the tower in May 2020, marking the first six-digit office lease in Manhattan since the onset of the pandemic.

The recovery of Manhattan’s office market in the wake of the pandemic has widely varied among neighborhoods. Prospective tenants in the third quarter were hunting for 6.5 million square feet of office space in Midtown South, according to an analysis by KPG Fund and Newmark previously reported by The Real Deal.

In addition to Midtown South, the analysis showed office demand in the Penn District, which sits just north of Chelsea, more than doubled in the third quarter, to 1.7 million square feet, from the first quarter of this year.

[NYP] — Holden Walter-Warner