Law Firm Inks Lease At SL Green’s 1185 Sixth

SL Green Realty is stacking up wins at one of its Sixth Avenue towers.

Patent law firm Groombridge, Wu, Baughman & Stone inked a 43,000-square-foot lease at 1185 Sixth Avenue, the landlord announced. The 10-year deal spans the entire 37th floor and part of the 36th floor at the 42-story tower. The asking rent was not disclosed.

JLL’s Lisa Kiell and Andrew Coe represented the tenant in the deal, which was first reported by the New York Post. A Newmark team including Brian Waterman, Jonathan Fanuzzi and Brent Ozarowski represented the landlord.

The transaction is part of a recent flurry of activity at the 1.1 million-square-foot building, which is now 91 percent leased after roughly 110,000 square feet of new deals. The property has faced a wave of turnover over the past few years after several major tenants vacated nearly 700,000 square feet across 25 floors.

Recent lease signings and pending deals leave just 24,000 square feet of that rollover space to backfill, CEO Marc Holliday said during the firm’s fourth quarter earnings call.

The rebound comes as Sixth Avenue emerges as one of Manhattan’s strongest submarkets, with rents rising thanks to constrained supply along Park Avenue. Manhattan office leasing posted its strongest quarter at the end of last year since before the pandemic.

“Sixth Avenue is the new Park Avenue,” Holliday said. “You’re seeing rents rise dramatically on the avenue, given the tightening of supply.”

Leasing activity jumped more than 25 percent quarter-over-quarter to 11.9 million square feet, the borough’s most active quarter since late 2019.Demand surged, availability tightened and rents pushed higher across much of the city, according to Colliers data.

Located between West 46th and West 47th streets in the Plaza District, 1185 Sixth Avenue sits steps from Rockefeller Center and major transit hubs. SL Green overhauled the 1.1 million-square-foot 1971 building with a newly-renovated entryway, lobby, elevator cabs and corridor to compete with gleaming new developments.

The firm is expanding and relocating from 565 Fifth Avenue, where its 19,000-square-foot sublease is due to expire later this year, partner Nicholas Groombridge said.