NEW YORK | 660 5th Ave Redevelopment | 483 FT | 39 FLOORS

[JMKeynes]

This is a massive improvement!

[NYguy]

https://nypost.com/2022/03/13/east-m...imity-beckons/

East Midtown is NYC’s most in-demand market as Grand Central proximity beckons


By Steve Cuozzo
March 13, 2022

East Midtown is once again Manhattan’s most in-demand office market.

Deals are still being done in the Hudson Yards area, Times Square, Midtown South and at the World Trade Center, but brokers say the momentum has shifted to the East 40s and 50s, which not long ago seemed to have lost their luster.

“Companies with resources are drawn to the blocks around Grand Central Terminal,” one insider said. “They like the energy that came from One Vanderbilt and the recent East Midtown rezoning. They like that the LIRR will soon be coming into the terminal. And they like the reinvestment that’s making old towers new.”

A major lease is said to be in the works for Macquarie Group at Brookfield’s 660 Fifth Avenue, the redesigned tower stripped of its former 666 “satanic” address. Other deals are also poised to happen at the unrecognizably transformed tower.

Meanwhile, sources said that Ken Griffin’s Citadel, which is on a Big Apple hiring spree, is in advanced talks with Olayan America’s 550 Madison Ave., the repositioned former Sony tower where Chubb Group recently signed on as anchor tenant. Citadel is already the largest tenant at L&L Holding Co.’s nearby 425 Park Ave.

Separately, an unidentified tenant is believed to be taking a high-floor space at SL Green’s One Vanderbilt for close to $300 per square foot.

[NYguy]

APRIL 6, 2022

[JMKeynes]

This and the new Rolex building will improve this immediate stretch dramatically.

[NYguy]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...d&cmpId=google

Viking Hedge Fund Plans NYC Office Expansion as Headcount Grows


ByNatalie Wong and Hema Parmar
April 8, 2022

[Andreas Halvorsen’s mega hedge fund firm, Viking Global Investors, is looking to relocate its Manhattan offices and snap up more space as it ramps up growth in New York City.

The firm is in talks for more than 100,000 square feet (9,300 square meters) of space at 660 Fifth Ave., an office tower that’s undergoing a $400 million redevelopment by Brookfield Properties, according to people familiar with the matter. Discussions are ongoing and nothing is finalized, the people said, asking not to be named because the matter is private.

Viking plans to move from its current 280 Park Ave. location, where it has outgrown its roughly 60,000 square feet of offices, the people said. The new location would provide more space for its current team as well as new employees the firm plans to bring on. Like many funds, Viking increased hiring during the pandemic.

[chris08876]

660 Fifth Avenue’s Re-Cladding Nears Completion In Midtown, Manhattan

Curtain wall installation is nearing the parapet of 660 Fifth Avenue, a 39-story commercial tower undergoing modernization in Midtown. Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox and developed by Brookfield Properties, the project involves interior renovations and the full re-cladding of the 64-year-old structure, which will yield 1.25 million square feet of office space and is expected to achieve LEED Gold certification. Turner Construction Company is the general contractor for the property, which is located along Fifth Avenue between West 52nd and 53rd Streets and was formerly addressed as 666 Fifth Avenue.

Work has also been progressing on the lower levels, including around the western elevation where several ventilation grilles sit within a more spaced-out grid of glass panels, and across the setbacks on the wide southern profile facing West 52nd Street, where the façade is steadily going up. The large white banners that displayed the names of the multiple retail tenants has been removed from the top of the sidewalk scaffolding.

660 Fifth Avenue’s makeover is projected to cost around $400 million and will include a new lobby, new elevators, and upgrades to the infrastructure. Floors four through nine in the podium will be the largest and span between 66,0000 and 70,000 rentable square feet per level; floors ten through 14 will measure around 40,000 rentable square feet each; and finally, floors 15 through 39 yield 25,000 rentable square feet each. Amenities include numerous landscaped outdoor terraces spread across four levels that collectively measure 42,000 square feet, a boutique lobby space, on-site parking, and bicycle storage. A separate lobby entrance along West 52nd Street is dedicated for the main anchor tenant, which will also get illuminated signs mounted above their lobby and on the top of the building.

660 Fifth Avenue stands directly above subway access to the 5th Avenue-53rd Street station, which is serviced by the E and M trains. The B, D, and F trains can be found underneath Rockefeller Center to the south.

The transformation of 660 Fifth Avenue is slated for completion this December, as noted on the construction board.

Considerable progress has occurred on the new glass envelope since our last update in January, with only seven stories now remaining to be clad. The scaffolding has been removed from the upper levels, which should be fully enclosed in the coming weeks.

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NYY

[NYguy]

https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/mac...nt-11652709925

Macquarie Signs First Lease at Fifth Avenue Office Tower Undergoing $400 Million Redevelopment
Big lease at 660 Fifth is the latest sign that highest-price office space is outperforming in tough leasing market

By Peter Grant
May 16, 2022

Australian financial-services company Macquarie Group signed the first lease at a new Midtown Manhattan redevelopment of the office tower that gained global attention during the Trump administration because it was owned at the time by the family of senior Trump aide Jared Kushner.

The 39-story building, which has changed its name from 666 Fifth Ave. to 660 Fifth Ave., is being overhauled in a $400 million redevelopment by Brookfield Asset Management which purchased a long-term lease of the property from the Kushners in 2018.

Macquarie is leasing 220,000 of the building’s 1.25 million square feet of office lease for its Americas regional headquarters, now located at another Midtown building a few blocks away.

The deal represents a milestone for Brookfield, which launched its leasing program during one of the most challenging office markets in recent memory. The pandemic has reduced demand and increased sublease space as businesses throughout the world shift to hybrid strategies that allow employees to work from home part of the week.

Fortunately for 660 Fifth, most of the leasing activity has focused on well-located modern buildings with great views and state-of-the-art amenities and air filtration systems.

As anchor tenant, Macquarie will be getting 30,000 square feet of private outdoor terraces, a private lobby and entrance and top-of-the-building signage rights.

Brookfield is recladding the facade of the tower with 11-foot-by-19-foot window frames for maximum light and air. Macquarie’s interior design consists of multifloor atriums that give its space the “feel like you’re within a building that’s inside another building,” said Mikael Nahmias, a Brookfield senior vice president.

Mr. Nahmias declined to discuss financial terms of the lease. But people familiar with the Manhattan leasing market say Macquarie’s blended rent for its six floors of space is over $100 a square foot.

Macquarie has shifted to a hybrid workplace strategy in the past year. The space it is leasing at 660 Fifth Ave. is roughly equal to the amount of space it is giving up in its existing offices, people familiar with the leasing market said.

…..Mr. Nahmias said that 660 Fifth has numerous other leasing deals in the pipeline. He predicted it will be fully leased “if not by the end of the year then very soon afterwards.”

[chris08876]

Credit: Michael Young via NYY

[JMKeynes]

Nice shots, Chris. I drove by here en route to a meeting last week. I think it looks great.

[pico44]

Originally Posted by JMKeynes

Nice shots, Chris. I drove by here en route to a meeting last week. I think it looks great.

Agreed. Really pleased with this one

[mrnyc]

oh wow — that is so, so much better.