NEW YORK CITY-Law firm Baker & McKenzie has signed a 15-year lease for six and a half floors at IDB Group’s 452 Fifth Ave. The firm will occupy 105,803 square feet of space at the building when it moves across Bryant Park from 1114 Avenue of the Americas, making it the second largest tenant after anchor HSBC.

According to Ehud Elizur, president of IDB Group PBC-KOOR USA, the firm was lured to the building for predictable reasons, like location and proximity to transportations hubs. But it likely found the building’s height advantage over its neighbors to be an attractive factor as well.

“All the buildings around it are low buildings,” Elizur says. “When you’re in the building you really have unobstructed views in all directions. And the glass walls--floor to ceiling--are attractive to tenants who entertain clients and customers, because they get a great view in all directions.”

With law firms increasingly interested in buildings that support the type of infrastructure and 24-hour buildings systems more often seen in financial firms, Baker & McKenzie may have liked the capital improvement plan that’s underway at the building as well. Elizur says that much of it is designed to allow the tower to operate “24/7,” though the lobby and elevators were also improved. He adds that the group is “currently upgrading the generators, the elevators and other systems in the building.”

IDB Group signed the contract for purchase of 452 Fifth Ave. in 2009 and the deal went through for $330 million the following year. “We signed the contract in October 2009,” Elizur says. “So you’re talking about a purchase in 2009 when the market was completely different. There wasn’t any financing available—we were a cash buyer. We came with proof of funds.”

With the 600,000 square feet at the base of the building fully occupied by HSBC until at least 2020, Elizur says that the Baker & McKenzie lease leaves the 300,000-square-foot tower portion roughly two-thirds full. He declined to give an asking rent for the space, though according to 3Q 2011 data from CBRE, midtown asking rents for the quarter were $60.57.

CBRE’s Craig Reicher, Howard Fiddle, James Ackerson, Zachary Freeman, Sinclair Li and Greg Maurer-Hollaender represented the building’s owner. Baker & McKenzie was represented by Studley’s Mitchell Steir, John Mambrino, David Goldstein and Matthew Barlow.