The developer of the half-empty, 1.1 million-square-foot office tower at 11 Times Square has not signed a large lease since the law firm Proskauer Rose struck a deal last May, but it has found a few smaller tenants.
There are “a couple pre-builts with leases” pending, Stephen Siegel, chairman of global brokerage at CB Richard Ellis, said, referring to finished office space constructed by developers to attract companies. He did not identify the companies that took space.
Siegel and Steven Pozycki, CEO of 11 Times Square developer SJP Properties, were on hand last night for the ribbon-cutting led by Mayor Michael Bloomberg for Proskauer Rose opening its new office. Siegel made his comments in a private interview with The Real Deal.
The law firm moved in to the 40-story building, at the corner of Eighth Avenue and 42nd Street, over the long weekend, and officially opened for business at the new location on Tuesday. Last week, SJP Properties announced the building had been given a high LEED certification for its green technology.
CBRE is handling the search for office tenants in the tower, which was a speculative building. The completed tower got its first temporary certificate of occupancy in July, city Department of Buildings records show. In September it was reported that SJP Properties was building a floor of pre-built space.
Proskauer is occupying 406,000 square feet on 14 floors, from 17 to 30. The ribbon-cutting and reception was held on the 27th and 28th floors, but a reporter was not allowed to visit the other floors, where work was not yet complete.
Siegel said the largest tenant now looking for space in the building wanted about 200,000 square feet, but he would not give any asking rents.
“Mr. Pozykci will break my neck!” he said.
Pozykci, also speaking in private conversation with The Real Deal, declined to discuss pricing in the building, but said firms were looking.
“The upper stories are in tremendous demand,” he said. “The real estate industry calls that ‘view space.’ There is very little view space in the city.”