Vornado sold the 300,000-sf property last year to a joint venture between Houlihan Parnes/iCAP Realty Advisors and the Jack Jemal family in a $25-million deal. Located on the northwest corner of Fordham Road and the Grand Concourse, the 2 Fordham Square Building has a 35,000-sf selling basement and five floors above ground.

On Friday, Bally's Fitness signed a 10-year lease "in the high $20s" for the entire below-grade space where it will open a health club, according to Fordham Associates LLC principal Jim Houlihan. Other new leases include a 52,000-sf deal with a newly formed JV between City University of New York and Local 1199, the Health and Hospital Workers Union. The 15-year lease is also in the upper $20s, Houlihan tells GlobeSt.com. The space should be ready for occupancy in 60 to 90 days.

Houlihan says retail deals in place at the property are all priced "north of $100 per sf" and all carry 10-year terms. The Children's place has already opened its 5,500-sf space, Verizon has opened a 2,000-sf cell-phone store and North Fork Bank is up and running with a 3,500-sf branch.

An independent men's apparel retailer is building out a 3,500-sf space and an undisclosed national chain is in final negotiations to take 2,000 sf of first-floor space with escalators connecting it to a 30,000-sf space on the second floor. That deal, which would involve blended-lease pricing, is scheduled to go before the prospective tenant's board of directors next week, Houlihan says.

The bulk of the renovation is slated for completion within 90 days, at which point Houlihan says the two family-owned businesses involved will hold a grand opening for the property. He adds that it's too early to put a price tag on the redevelopment, because future tenants' build-out needs are impossible to guess.

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