When does more than 200,000 square meters of newly minted office space, launched in the middle of a severely challenged market, go unnoticed?
When they’re inside a high-profile, 1,000-foot-tall, mostly condo skyscraper on Fifth Avenue.
The Rabina-led project at 520 Fifth Ave., due for completion next year, is best known for offering 100 luxury apartments. The KPF-designed tower on East 43d Street is hard to miss for its striking, double-height, terracotta-framed arched windows.
But tucked away inside will be 210,882 square feet of office space, too, on 25 boutique-sized lower floors, from the ninth to the 34th. They range in size from 6,500 to 12,000 square feet and are aimed at “tenants who want their own identity and sense of arrival when you step off the elevator,” said Benjamin Bass, JLL’s managing director who is leading the leasing campaign.
Despite the well-known challenges of the leasing market, Bass is confident that the new product will appeal to tenants in industries beyond the smaller financial firms that often seek modest footprints. Proximity to Bryant Park and Grand Central Terminal are powerful draws, he said.
In addition, most office floors have a much sought-after outdoor terrace or loggia. Tenants will have access to a large-scale convenience center for which details are not yet available.
“The supply of trophy-quality space in Midtown has dwindled,” Bass said. “It has been a tightening effect. We are well positioned to take advantage of the situation.
Rabina took over the long-stalled project from Ceruzzi Properties and SMI USA in 2019. It nailed down a $540 million construction loan package in early 2022.