NEW YORK CITY—RKF—a growing independent real estate firm in North America specializing in retail leasing, investment sales and consulting services—has inked a lease for the entire seventh floor of 521 Fifth Ave., in Midtown.
With this significant expansion, RKF will occupy a total of 20,987 square feet, expanding by roughly 30% from its current lease, beginning in June. RKF has leased its headquarters space from landlord SL Green Realty Corp. since 2003. Brad Gerla of CBRE and attorney Jeffrey Platte of Platte, Klarsfeld, Levine & Lachtman, LLP advised RKF on the lease expansion.
“The physical expansion of our global headquarters office is one of the many positive developments that RKF has going on today,” says Robert Futterman, chairman & CEO of RKF. “We're bursting at the seams for all of the right reasons; while our business has grown consistently over the past two decades, the momentum has measurably accelerated in recent months.”
Adds Futterman: “Our clients' loyalty and continued business have enabled us to grow exponentially over the past few years, thus requiring us to bolster and strengthen our team in Manhattan and many of our other markets. It's fair to say that we're expanding all over the map.”
RKF's roster of landlords it represents includes the Durst Organization; Extell Development Co Jamestown Properties; Kushner Cos.; Silverstein Properties; SL Green Realty Corp. and the Howard Hughes Corp. The company also works on behalf of a wide variety of retailers.
The expansion will enable RKF to increase its ranks by 25% percent, grow its brokerage team and create greater efficiencies and collaboration. Additionally, it allows the firm to accommodate a recently reorganized and fortified marketing team.
RKF also has expanded its operations in other markets in the past year. Last fall the firm solidified an affiliation with CWM Retail Property Advisors in London and opened an office in Toronto earlier this year. RKF's northern New Jersey operations recently moved into a larger office after expanding its local staff by more than 20%, and a similar expansion of both staff and office quarters was just completed in Miami.
521 Fifth Ave. is a 39-story office building located on the northeast corner of Fifth avenue and 43rd street near Grand Central Terminal. The building recently received a $25 million building-wide renovation that included restoration of the facade and the construction of a new entrance.
SL Green did not respond to a request for comment by press time.Watch this space for a possible UPDATE, if a comment from the landlord, or more from the tenant, becomes available.
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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.
