The redevelopment will include a new glass and metal facade, a two-story high lobby featuring glass and stone walls with marble floors, new elevator cabs, infrastructure upgrade and state-of-the-art security, including electronic access, surveillance and 24-hour security guards. The redevelopment is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

Located one block south of Grand Central Terminal between 40th and 41st streets, the 36-story building, which contains 825,000 rentable sf, is expected to be one third vacant first quarter 2008, noted Steven Durels, EVP and director of leasing and real property at SL Green, during the company's presentation and private tour of the building Wednesday morning.

"This is our largest repositioning to date, and we look forward to doing a bigger one in the future," Durels said. The redevelopment will permit SL Green to capitalize on large blocks of space that are soon to become available.

"Previously in 2001, we closed a deal on one of the tower floor leases at $52 per sf," Durels said. "Last week, we signed our first lease on the 35th floor at $110 per foot." Durels went on to explain that the difference in asking prices is being driven by the market and by the quality of the newly renovated building.

"There is a large demand from a variety of businesses," he said. "Tenants who have shown interest in the facility have mainly been law firms, financial services, hedge funds, equity investors and accounting firms."

Durels explained that the Manhattan office market is red hot. "I don't foresee any slowdown the rest of the year...the market is going to hold," he said. "We are beginning to see that there aren't enough seats at the table, which is forcing companies to cross a river and look for space elsewhere."

Some of the larger recent leasing transactions in the 100 Park Ave. building were Fox Rothschild, who expanded and renewed its lease to a 10-year, 30,578-sf lease. J&W Seligman & Co. Inc. signed a lease extension with a lease commencement date of April 1, 2008 for 90,039 sf. Seligman Data Corp. signed an extension for 11 years and four months for 13,324 sf. General American Investors Co. Inc. signed a 10-year, seven-month lease for 10,750 sf.

Cushman & Wakefield is the leasing agent of the property.

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Natalie Dolce

Natalie Dolce, editor-in-chief of GlobeSt.com, is responsible for working with editorial staff, freelancers and senior management to help plan the overarching vision that encompasses GlobeSt.com, including short-term and long-term goals for the website, how content integrates through the company’s other product lines and the overall quality of content. Previously she served as national executive editor and editor of the West Coast region for GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum, and was responsible for coverage of news and information pertaining to that vital real estate region. Prior to moving out to the Southern California office, she was Northeast bureau chief, covering New York City for GlobeSt.com. Her background includes a stint at InStyle Magazine, and as managing editor with New York Press, an alternative weekly New York City paper. In her career, she has also covered a variety of beats for M magazine, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, FashionLedge.com, and Co-Ed magazine. Dolce has also freelanced for a number of publications, including MSNBC.com and Museums New York magazine.