SL Green courts tech, advertising tenants at 180 Maiden Lane

SL Green Realty is changing its strategy at its Lower Manhattan office tower 180 Maiden Lane. Though initially the real estate investment trust hoped to attract financial tenants to the 1.2 million-square-foot tower, or even convert it to hotel or residential use, it is now looking at attracting tenants from the technology, advertising, media and information industries, collectively known as TAMI tenants.

The REIT will add trendy flourishes to the building’s lobby and convert it into a meeting area, according to director of leasing Steven Durels. A third-floor cafeteria, to be christened “the Canteen,” will also undergo a similar makeover.

“We’re going after a much more casual, community kind of work environment,” Durels told the Wall Street Journal. “The idea is to create, in essence, a vertical campus inside the building.”

In August, insurance giant American International Group announced that it would vacate its 800,000-square-foot space at the building and move to a building it owns at 175 Water Street.

TAMI tenants accounted for over a quarter of the most valuable leasing deals in the second quarter of 2013, as The Real Deal reported. [WSJ] — Hiten Samtani