Third Avenue’s slumping office market looks like it might finally catch a break. Salesforce.com is on the verge of signing a lease for 100,000 square feet at 685 Third Avenue, Crain’s reported.
The near-vacant 650,000-square-foot office building, between East 43rd and East 44th streets was formerly Pfizer’s headquarters. TIAA-CREF bought the building for $190 million in 2010 and flipped a 49.99 percent stake a year later to Australia’s Future Fund Board of Guardians for $100.3 million.
Crain’s was careful to point out that Salesforce.com’s deal, which has yet to be finalized but is said to be worth between $55 and $60 per square foot, does not signify a new frontier for the Midtown South-concentrated tech industry. Rather, Salesforce.com has an existing relationship with TIAA-CREF as it leased 400,000 square feet from the landlord in San Francisco. The cloud-computing company also has 15,000 square feet at 2 Grand Central.
Salesforce.com was drawn away from Midtown South because of its potential to grow into the building’s vacancies as it expands. [Crain’s]