Vornado scores MLS lease at Penn 2

After years of reinventing its Penn 2 office property, Vornado Realty Trust is scoring another tenant.

Major League Soccer is nearly doubling its Manhattan office footprint in a move to 126,000 square feet on two tower floors of the building, people familiar with the situation told The Real Deal.

MLS is being represented by Dan Posy and Joe Messina of JLL, which declined to comment, as did Glen Weiss of Vornado who oversees its office leasing. Cushman & Wakefield handles leasing at Penn 2, where annual asking rents are $110 to $125 per square foot.

The growing soccer league occupies 64,200 square feet at 420 Fifth Avenue’s sixth and seventh floors, an office condominium at West 37th Street owned by Steve Witkoff. The league moved there in 2015 from 110 East 42nd Street on a lease that ends next year.

Both of those floors are now for sale for $54.6 million or separately for $850 per square foot through Michael Rudder of Rudder Property Group. Rudder was not involved in MLS’ relocation to Penn 2, which is next to Madison Square Garden.

Previous Penn 2 tenant Madison Square Garden Entertainment is returning to the reinvented top seven floors in the tower of the building, taking about 428,000 square feet.

Major League Soccer will have its own 770 square feet of outdoor space along with use of the 17,000-square-foot shared roof terrace and indoor pavilion.

The soccer league may also make use of the town hall amenity space that can seat 280 people for high-tech announcements. The theater seating can also be pushed out of the way for a follow-up banquet.

There’s also a green room so if Lionel Messi and David Beckham come for an event, they won’t get swarmed until they take the stage.

Vornado’s renovation of Penn 2 was overseen by MdeAS Architects.

Soccer is popping up alongside real estate interests elsewhere in the city. Stephen Ross of Related — developer of nearby Hudson Yards — and Fred Wilpon of Sterling Equities are building a Queens soccer stadium in Willets Point opposite Citi Field for the New York City Football Club along with a hotel, 2,500 units of housing and a school.

The final of the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be at MetLife Stadium and NYFC is planning its first home season in 2027 at the new Willets Point stadium.

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This article has been updated to include Joe Messina of JLL as representing MLS in the deal.