Law Firm Bets on Rents Rising, Signs Early

NEW YORK CITY-As large blocks of class A space continue to be in short supply, the law firm Duval & Stachenfeld has signed on for 50,000 square feet in the Coates Building at 555 Madison Ave. for a lease that begins in 2013. Eric Menkes, a partner in the real estate group at the firm who handled the deal, tells GlobeSt.com that the firm “made a forward bet on the market.”

That bet represents the desire that many law firms have in the current market to lock in leases before rents rise precipitously. Stuart Eisenkraft, a CB Richard Ellis vice chairman, told GlobeSt.com recently not all would make it. “Some of those law firms obviously are not going to catch the market at its lowest,” he said. “Maybe they’ll be 20% above the trough, the inflection point. Large block space, which is what these law firms are looking for, is at a premium.”