Related Looks to Recruit Polo Bar to 625 Madison

Jeff Blau’s recruitment pitch for office tenants at 625 Madison Avenue could include proximity to one of the most exclusive eateries in New York City.

Related Companies is in discussions to bring Ralph Lauren’s Polo Bar to the Midtown Manhattan development, the Wall Street Journal reported. Details about the lease and the potential relocation from 1 East 55th Street were not disclosed.

Should Related bring the Polo Bar to 625 Madison, however, it would prove to be one of the most high-profile moves at the project yet. The flight-to-quality in Manhattan’s office market mandates the presence of amenities, but also any bells and whistles developers can find. A prestigious restaurant or chef outpost is an increasingly common playbook for developers.

“There are only a handful of restaurants that are on that same level as Polo Bar,” JLL’s Evan Margolin told the Journal. “Everybody knows it. Everybody wants to go there.”

Related purchased the site from SL Green in December 2023 for it picked up in December from SL Green for more than $600 million. That deal followed a decade-long saga that saw SL Green finally take back control of the Madison Avenue property from billionaire investor Ben Ashkenazy.

Related initially planned a mixed-use project combining residential, retail and hospitality components, but has more recently said it would deliver an office building to capitalize on demand for premium Manhattan workspaces.

Related is hoping to secure asking rents anywhere between $200 and $400 per square foot, which would pace Manhattan’s surging office market. Related is negotiating a 150,000-square-foot lease with private equity firm General Atlantic and a 90,000-square-foot lease with software investment firm Veritas for roughly 90,000 square feet.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund took a commanding two-thirds stake in the planned 1,200-foot Manhattan skyscraper last year. The $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund had already invested approximately $200 million into the project at the time the stake deal was revealed.

The project is expected to wrap in the summer of 2029.

— Holden Walter-Warner