Gary Barnett appears to have found an anchor tenant for his Midtown office development, nearing a deal to ink a massive lease.
Global law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is set to take roughly 700,000 square feet at Extell Development’s 570 Fifth Avenue, the Commercial Observer reported. The deal would be the second-largest office lease signed in New York this year, trailing only New York University’s 1.1-million-square-foot lease at 770 Broadway.
The move raises questions about the fate of Simpson Thacher’s longtime home at 425 Lexington Avenue. The firm already subleased portions of that space in recent years, suggesting 570 Fifth may replace rather than supplement its Midtown digs.
Terms of the lease weren’t disclosed, but average asking rents in Midtown were nearly $80 per square foot in the second quarter, according to Newmark.
Extell’s plan for the site — between West 46th and 47th streets — has evolved from a proposed supertall into a 29-story office-and-retail tower. Ikea, through Ingka Investments, will anchor the retail component with 80,000 square feet and a one-third stake in the full project.
The developer completed a $175 million land buy earlier this year to round out the necessary assemblage.
Delivery of the KPF-designed tower is expected by the end of 2028.
If finalized, the Simpson Thacher lease would mark a major win for Barnett at a time when securing tenants of that scale has become rare.
The law firm’s deal joins other notable signings this year, including Amazon’s 330,000-square-foot lease at 10 Bryant Park and Goodwin Procter’s 250,000-square-foot deal at 200 Fifth Avenue.
Nationally, law firms have been an outsized driver of office demand, signing nearly 6 million square feet in the first half of 2025, the sector’s strongest showing since 2018, according to Savills.
For Barnett, the lease is validation of a strategic pivot. Extell in 2021 filed plans for a 78-story mixed-use tower with more than 1,500 hotel rooms and nearly 500 apartments at the same site.
Instead, the developer doubled down on the office play and secured financing from South Korea’s IGIS Asset Management to move forward.
— Holden Walter-Warner
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