Northern Trust takes floor at LeFrak’s 40 West 57th Street

Investment management firm Northern Trust signed a 25,000-square-foot lease at the LeFrak Organization’s 40 West 57th Street, where rents tend to surpass $100 per square foot, the New York Observer reported.

The Chicago-based firm plans to relocate its New York office at 65 East 55th Street to the full 21st floor of the 34-story, 893,000-square-foot tower between Fifth and Sixth avenues in The Plaza District. Gus Field of Cushman & Wakefield represented Northern Trust, while Howard Fiddle of CBRE negotiated on behalf of LeFrak, the newspaper said.

Other building tenants include JPMorgan/Highbridge, Elliott Management Corporation and VF Corporation. 

The Plaza District showed marked improvement in the second quarter, with leasing up 255 percent, to 2.73 million square feet from 1.07 million, over the previous quarter, as The Real Deal reported based on Colliers International data. The area — between East 47th and East 55th streets and Central Park and the East River — had the highest vacancy rate of any Manhattan submarket last year, due to its dependence on financial services.

Tocqueville Asset Management added 12,000 square feet to its 40,000-square-foot space in the tower last October, when asking rents were in the $70s per square foot, according to the Observer. [NYO] – Mark Maurer