RXR Hits 100% Occupancy at 1285 Sixth Avenue

It’s been a banner year for 1285 Sixth Avenue.

RXR achieved an impressive benchmark at its Midtown office tower, signing global law firm Latham & Watkins to a lease for 120,000 square feet, the New York Post reported. Details of the lease, including asking rent and duration, were not immediately disclosed.

The deal brings the 1.8 million-square-foot tower, where asking rents range from the high $90s to mid-$100 per square foot, to 100 percent occupancy.

RXR’s William Elder and Daniel Birney represented the landlord in-house, while a CBRE team represented the tenant.

Latham & Watkins’ lease isn’t only a big development for RXR — it’s a big sign of progress in Manhattan’s office market writ large. That’s because the law firm is hanging on to its 435,000 square feet a few addresses away at Rockefeller Group’s 1271 Sixth Avenue. This is solely an expansion, instead of a relocation or a downsizing.

Back in the first quarter, Mizuho Financial Group — the parent company of Mizuho Americas — took 151,000 square feet at RXR’s Midtown Manhattan building on a sublease initially disclosed in Colliers’ monthly office leasing report. Similar to Latham & Watkins, Mizuho Americas already leases 382,000 square feet at 1271 Sixth Avenue.

Late last year, law firm Ropes & Gray signed a 430,000-square-foot lease at 1285 Sixth Avenue, one of the year’s biggest leases in Manhattan. Ropes & Gray occupies 300,000 square feet at 1211 Sixth Avenue, so it’s adding more than 100,000 square feet in its move.

Asking rents in the building at the time ranged from $72 to $87 per square foot as of the first quarter. Other tenants include UBS and Omnicon Group.

Two years ago, RXR negotiated a loan modification with Morgan Stanley and AIG, contributing $220 million of equity to enhance reserves and pay down a $980 million balance. The interest rate on the debt rose, while the maturity date was extended five years.

— Holden Walter-Warner