Skidmore, Owings Stays Downtown

NEW YORK CITY-Architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, whose local credits include One Chase Manhattan Plaza and the Time Warner Center, has renewed its New York office space. The 10-year lease, announced Tuesday, is for 65,397 square feet on the 24th and 25th floors of 14 Wall St.

Taking rents were not disclosed, but published reports list upper-floor asking rents in the low to mid $50s per square foot. SOM has been a tenant at the 37-story 14 Wall since 1998.

Since the April 2007 purchase of 14 Wall in a $325-million joint venture with the Carlyle Group, Capstone Equities has put $50 million into capital improvements at the property, achieving more than 90% occupancy in that time. Capstone principal Daniel Ghadamian says in a release that the improvements at 14 Wall, including energy-efficient building systems, “undoubtedly have created an attractive incentive for tenants when faced with the decision to renew their leases.” He adds that a combination of his firm’s commitment to hands-on ownership and a “top-tier” tenant in SOM “enabled this mutually beneficial transaction to close in a very difficult environment.”