MLBPA Takes 50K SF at Paramount’s 1325 Sixth Ave

The Major League Baseball Players Association is sliding into a new office space.

The union representing professional baseball players is relocating to Paramount Group’s 1325 Sixth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, Bisnow reported. The landlord was asking $77 per square foot ahead of the 15-year lease, which covers the 29th and 30th floors of the 34-story building.

The union, helmed by Tony Clark, is moving over from Kato International’s Tower 49 at 12 East 49th Street. Its new location places it only a few doors down from another prominent professional sports authority: The National Basketball Players Association is located at 1133 Sixth Avenue.

The new digs are also a five-minute stroll from MLBPA headquarters to the New York City offices of Major League Baseball at 1271 Sixth Avenue.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Patrick Murphy and William Yeatman represented the tenant, while a JLL team including Frank Doyle and David Kleiner represented the landlord.

The MLBPA will be joining law firm Cohen Ziffer Frenchman & McKenna and publisher McGraw-Hill Education at 1325 Sixth Avenue; the latter signed a lease for 136,000 square feet six years ago.

Paramount, a real estate investment trust, was forced to slash its dividend by 55 percent about midway through last year, a move expected to save the REIT $40 million annually as it struggled with leasing decisions and vacancies in New York and San Francisco. Paramount’s stock is down by 0.2 percent as of mid-Thursday trading, but has plummeted more than 15 percent in the past year.

Leasing activity in the Manhattan office market rose 27 percent from the third quarter to the fourth, according to a report from Colliers. More than 8.2 million square feet were leased in the fourth quarter, representing the strongest level of activity since Q3 of 2022.

But availability in the borough remains at a record high, with 96.5 million square feet of vacant space.

— Holden Walter-Warner