Dewey & LeBoeuf, the massive law firm that is considering filing for bankruptcy, has commissioned Newmark Grubb Knight Frank to find a sublet for up to 160,000 square feet of the firm’s space at 1301 Sixth Avenue, Crain’s reported. The firm, which has a high-profile real estate practice headed by Stuart Saft, leases about 470,000 square feet in the Paramount Group’s 1.8 million-square-foot tower, making it the property’s largest tenant. It is looking to sublease three to four of the building’s 40,000-square-foot floors.
With the move, Dewey is entering a crowded market of firms looking to sublease, Crain’s noted. Pfizer recently put 274,000 square feet at 150 East 42nd Street up for sublet and JPMorgan & Chase is looking to unload 50,000 feet at 277 Park Avenue. Meanwhile, Citigroup and Societe Generale have recently shed a combined 172,000 square feet and Nomura has cut 200,000 square feet from the 900,000 it originally agreed to take at Worldwide Plaza.
All that space is competing for takers in a quiet office leasing market. Leasing velocity fell 25 percent during the first quarter, and the city recorded 3 million square feet of negative absorption during the period. [Crain’s]