After a busted sale during the pandemic, SL Green is sticking around at the Daily News building, and so is a sizable United Nations tenant.
UN Women renewed more than 85,000 square feet at 220 East 42nd Street, the office landlord announced. The organization, which works on policies and programs dedicated to women’s human rights, occupies floors 17-20 at the building.
Jodi Pulice and Greg Smith of JRT Realty represented UN Women, along with Chris Helgesen of Cushman & Wakefield. SL Green was represented by a Cushman & Wakefield team including Tara Stacom and Harry Blair.
The asking rent for the space has not been disclosed. The lease is one of 26 the office landlord signed in the first two months of the year, spanning more than 452,000 square feet across its portfolio.
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New York
Manhattan office availability hits new peak
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New York
Chetrit goes to the mat with SL Green over busted Daily News deal
The lease renewal is one of the biggest transactions for SL Green at the building following a dispute with Jacob Chetrit, a result of one of the biggest office deals to go bust during the pandemic.
SL Green dropped the lawsuit it filed in May 2020 to recover a $35 million deposit from escrow. Chetrit had agreed to buy the 1.1 million-square-foot building in September 2019 for $814 million. But SL Green claimed the developer couldn’t find financing or close the deal by the deadline after the pandemic hit.
SL Green ultimately held on to the property, proceeding to refinance it with a $510 million mortgage from Aareal Capital Corp., Citi and Credit Agricole in the summer of 2020. The Commercial Observer reported a Korean real estate fund purchased a 49 percent stake in the building in July 2021.
Office availability in Manhattan reached a high point in February, with slightly less than 94 million square feet available for rent, according to a Colliers report. The availability rate hit 17.4 percent, up 74 percent from the start of the pandemic.
SL Green had one of the largest lease deals of the month in Manhattan, signing AlphaSights to a 236,000-square-foot lease at 100 Park Avenue.