Bank of America is in late-stage negotiations to lease up to 150,000 square feet at the Durst Organization’s 45-story Midtown office tower at 1133 Sixth Avenue, The Real Deal has learned.
Under the deal, the North Carolina-based financial institution would take up more than half the space that’s currently occupied by the Internal Revenue Service. The 1.1 million-square-foot property is located between West 43rd and 44th streets.
Bank of America — which is facing a record $16.65 billion settlement over distressed mortgage-backed securities — already has at least 90,000 square feet over four upper floors in the tower. Now, the banking giant has become the frontrunner for the IRS’s space after talks between online retail giant Amazon and the landlord “broke down,” sources told TRD. The deal for the new space is expected to close by the end of this year.
CBRE is representing Bank of America, while Durst’s Thomas Bow and Rocco Romeo are representing the landlord in-house, sources said. Representatives for Durst declined to comment, while representatives for CBRE couldn’t be reached by press time.
The IRS signed for 240,000 square feet at the tower in 1992, and now occupies 285,872 square feet across nine floors – from the second floor to the 10th. That lease is set to expire soon.
Of those nine floors, the fourth and fifth levels boast the biggest floor plates, at 35,291 square feet apiece, according to the building’s marketing materials. As part of the $10 million renovation at the tower, the second floor offers access to 13,000 square feet of terrace space.
Amazon, which occupies roughly 92,500 square feet at SL Green’s 1350 Sixth Avenue, struck a deal last month to open its first brick-and-mortar store – at Vornado Realty Trust’s 7 West 34th Street, as previously reported.