A law firm signed a massive lease at Paramount Group’s 1301 Sixth Avenue, but the move includes a cut to the company’s footprint in Manhattan’s office market.
O’Melveny & Myers is taking 142,000 square feet at the Midtown Manhattan building, Paramount announced. The 15-year lease covers floors 17 through 20, which are occupied by French bank Credit Agricole on a lease set to expire in February.
The asking rent for the space was $84 per square foot, the Commercial Observer reported. The law firm is planning its move to the 45-story, 1.7 million-square-foot property in either late 2024 or early 2025.
Peter Brindley and Doug Neye were among those representing Paramount in-house, as well as a JLL team including Frank Doyle and David Kleinere. JLL’s Lisa Kiell and Randy Abend represented the tenant, as did CBRE’s Lynn Wiliams and Jeff Welch.
While O’Melveny’s lease is a sizable one, the long-term office footprint of the law firm features steady decline. The Los Angeles-based company leased as much as 355,000 square feet at Boston Properties’ 7 Times Square as of 2006, but was recently down to 150,000 square feet, according to the Observer.
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The deal comes after months of headlines and market reports offering mixed signals to those trying to read the tea leaves on Manhattan’s offices
On one hand, tales of companies shedding space or bailing on expansion plans are validated by O’Melveny’s reduction. On the other hand, the 15-year term represents another bet on Manhattan’s office future.
August marked the busiest leasing month in Manhattan since the start of the pandemic. About 3.4 million square feet of office space was leased last month, according to a Colliers report. Still, there’s 67 percent more space available than back in March 2020.
Last year, Paramount snagged an $860 million refinancing package for its property at 1301 Sixth Avenue. Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley each provided $355 million mortgage loans and $75 million mezzanine loans.