Apple Leases More Office Space in Vornado’s Penn 11

Apple quietly expanded by 61,000 square feet onto yet another floor of Vornado Realty Trust’s Penn 11.

The world’s most valuable company (as of Tuesday) signed a lease with Vornado to bring its footprint at the Midtown South office building to 460,000 square feet.

Apple now has the fourth through 14th floors of the 26-story building, which sits on the eastern side of Seventh Avenue between West 31st and West 32nd streets. The deal was for space that was being leased to Macy’s. The building remains Macy’s headquarters.

This new lease also extends all of Apple’s space through the expiration of Macy’s lease in 2035. The building’s asking rents are $85 per foot.

Macy’s wanted to sublease the space when it moved many employees to Queens. But in an unusual negotiation, Vornado wanted to keep Macy’s credit on the hook while having a direct relationship with Apple, and have both leases in force.

Scott Gottlieb of CBRE represented Macy’s in the deal while David Endelman of Cushman & Wakefield represented Apple. Vornado was represented in-house by Glen Weiss and Jared Silverman.

Glen Weiss and Jared Silverman of Vornado

Apple landed at the 1.1 million square-foot building, formerly known as the Equitable Life Assurance Building at 11 Penn Plaza, in 2020 when it first sought to sublease 220,000 square feet from Macy’s for six years. The asking rent then was in the mid-$60s per square foot.

At the time, Apple had been seeking a spot in a portion of Vornado’s renovation of the Farley Building, a long block away and on the other side of Madison Square Garden, but was shoved aside when Facebook took all of that office space.

Now, underground passageways connect to the food mecca in the base of Farley, which also houses Moynihan Train Hall.

Apple has expanded several times at the property, which Vornado, led by Steve Roth, purchased in 1997 along with 2 Penn Plaza in a $437 million portfolio deal with the late-Bernard Mendik. The seller was able to convert his position to shares in Vornado’s new real estate investment trust.

The building was designed by Starrett & Van Vleck and completed in 1923. It has been renovated over the years to achieve LEED Gold and is lit to show off several tiers of setbacks.

CBRE and Vornado declined to comment and the other companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.