NEW YORK CITY-New York-based D.F. King signs for 26,000 sf in the luxury office tower at 48 Wall St., pushing the building occupancy to 79%. The prominent financial solicitation firm takes the entire 21st, 22nd and 23rd floors in an 11-year.

Kent M. Swig, principal of Swig Burris Equities, LLC, and owner of the 34-story, 340,000-sf tower tells GlobeSt.com that leasing activity at 48 Wall St. has remained resilient to the market downturn post-Sept. 11. “We're seeing a strong following from tenants in our building, despite the falloff in the downtown market since last fall,” he says. Swig. Swig Burris Equities, LLC bought the building in 1998 in association with MacDonald & Cie.

The owners were represented by Rob Lowe and Jonathan Dean of Cushman & Wakefield, while D.F. King was represented by Joel I. Wechsler and Michael Gottlieb of Grubb & Ellis.

“This lease further evidences a solid commitment to 48 Wall St. and the strength of the building within the downtown commercial office market,” says Jonathan Dean, senior director, Cushman & Wakefield. “We are confident that we will be leased well into the mid-80th percentile within the next couple of months,” he adds.

“Our goal is to maintain is leasing activity with good credit tenants,” Swig tells GlobeSt.com. “We set out to provide highly serviced, full-floor identity to tenants who may not be taking huge amounts of space,” he says.

Other major tenants at 48 Wall St. include CII, a GMAC commercial mortgage company, with 51,050 sf; Rockefeller Center Business Centers, which leased 41,000 sf; Gensler Architecture, Design and Planning Worldwide, occupying 27,300 sf, and Wall Street Planning, a division of Metropolitan Life company, with 13,650 sf. “These strong, solid tenants fulfill the positioning we wanted with the building,” says Swig.

A spokesperson for D.F. King tells GlobeSt.com the company will move into the space at the end of this year. Lease terms were not disclosed, but Swig says the pricing was “right on target” with comparably-sized rents in the building, currently in the $36-$40 range. D.F. King formerly occupied a similar amount of space around the corner at 77 Water St.

A recently competed renovation, which Swig estimates at $30 million, included the installation of fiber optic cabling and electric systems throughout the building. “D.F. King's work is certainly enhanced by the renovation to the building,” says Swig. A spokesman for D.F. King agreed with Swig's comments, adding “48 Wall St. is a perfect match for us, due in part to these renovations.”

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