Leases Totaling 52,512 SF Bring 8 W. 38th St. Occupancy Rate to 90%

NEW YORK CITY-A Midtown office property, net leased to a furniture store until spring 2001, has seen occupancy rates jump from 33% to 90% with 15 leases totaling 52,512 sf.

8 W. 38th St., a 12-story, 120,000-sf building constructed in 1913 for Franklin Simon & Co., was net leased by the W&J Sloane Furniture Store in the 1960s. When the lease rolled over in April 2001, Newmark & Co. Real Estate Inc. brokers Ronald Zimmerman and Andrew H. Udis negotiated more than a dozen deals, nearly leasing up the Garment District property. Published asking rents for office space in the building range from $29.75 to $32 per sf and building owner Fraglow Realty LLC, which moved its headquarters into the building last summer, is asking $55 per sf for ground-floor retail space at the property.