During Q1, SL Green signed 32 Manhattan office leases totaling 296,840 square feet with average starting rents of $52.71 per square foot. Occupancy for the Manhattan portfolio, including both office and retail, was 96.2% as of March 31, compared to 96.7% at the end of '08. In SL Green's suburban portfolio, occupancy was 90.4% at the end of Q1 '09--an identical rate as Q3 '08. During the quarter, the company signed 32 leases in the suburban portfolio totaling 124,090 square feet, of which 29 transactions and 123,110 square feet came from office leases.

The second quarter has gotten under way with more Midtown office deals, including two that GlobeSt.com reported last week at 100 Park Ave.: an expansion of Wells Fargo Trade Capital's existing lease and the signing of First Wall Street Group for 15,945 square feet. On Tuesday, SL Green announced today Insight Communications--a longtime tenant at 810 Seventh Ave.--renewed its 34,640-square-foot lease for the top two floors there.

Insight's deal is for five years plus; asking rents for the upper floors of the 41-story tower are $65 per square foot. Patrick Heeg of Jones Lang LaSalle acted on behalf of Insight, a telecommunications and cable company, while SL Green's Christopher Gulden represented the landlord.