NEW YORK CITY-Monday Properties and Invesco, have signed a trio of leases at the historic 230 Park Ave., GlobeSt.com has learned EXCLUSIVELY. Also known as the Helmsley Building, the 1.4 million-square-foot landmarked tower has become a home to banking firms, as well as companies with expansion potential.
The building's new tenants include Little Rock, AR-based Bank of the Ozarks, which signed a five-year, 2,400-square-foot lease for its first New York City office; and the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, which agreed to a 15-year lease for 5,400 square feet and indicated to Monday Properties that it is likely to expand down the road, Monday president Brian Robin tells GlobeSt.com. In addition, Dallas, TX-based Comerica, another banking institution with a national presence, has expanded by 1,800 square feet to now occupy 5,900 square feet of space. The tenant will be at the building through 2021.
Brokers on the deals were James Wenk, EVP, Jones Lang LaSalle, for Bank of the Ozarks. Comerica and the Helmsley Trust negotiated directly. Monday Properties was represented in-house by Jordan Berger in all three transactions, together with the 230 Park Ave. co-broker team from JLL of Jonathan Fanuzzi, EVP; vice chairmen Frank Doyle and Paul Glickman and David Kleiner, SVP.
Banking firms are drawn in by the building's location as well as its architecture, says Robin. “Banks appreciate being on the highly recognized Park avenue, plus this is incredibly unique property. Everyone who sees it, even if they just drive through in a taxi has an ooh/aah experience with the building.” [Editor's Note: the building spans across the avenue and has its own underpass through which cars can travel.] "Good company wants to be in good company, and there's value for these firms in being among a tenant base of like organizations.”
The building also seems to draw firms that plan to expand down the road, or at least have that potential—much to Monday's delight. The Helmsley trust's lease “allows for near-term expansion,” Robin says. Long-term, “the organization is in a place of, 'I think I know what I might need,' so the best way to approach that is to keep communicating without having the trust make commitments.”
He continues, “We've worked with Helmsley to identify an expansion path if and when that time comes; we have an understanding of where the space would come from and how we would deliver it.” Robin declined to discuss Helmsley's exact long-term space needs.
Comerica expanded its space and the Bank of the Ozarks, while just preparing to come to New York, will likely add space in the future. “We're pretty confident they'll grow,” says Robin. These firms have company: since the fourth quarter of 2009, 15 firms have expanded their 230 Park Ave. footprint.
The 34-story tower, located between 45th and 46th streets, offers full floor opportunities in the building; both at the base with a 70,000-square-foot floor plate and in the tower, providing a 21,000-square-foot floor plate.
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Rayna Katz
Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
