Albert Behler’s Paramount Group is getting in on law firm Kirkland & Ellis’ expansion of its New York City office footprint.
The firm signed a lease for 131,000 square feet at 900 Third Avenue in Midtown East, the Commercial Observer reported. The office is not far from 601 Lexington Avenue, where Kirkland & Ellis is set to occupy 520,000 square feet until 2039.
The big office lease was first reported by Bisnow. Asking rent and lease duration were not disclosed. Cushman & Wakefield represented both sides of the deal.
Other tenants at 900 Third Avenue include construction advisory firm Lehrer Cumming and employment and labor law firm Littler.
In January, Paramount sold a 45 percent interest in the property to an undisclosed buyer. The stake sale of the 600,000-square-foot property valued the building at $210 million. Paramount, which remained the majority owner of the property, stayed in charge of leasing the 36-story asset.
Paramount bought it from a JMB Realty partnership in 1999 for $164.8 million. Three years later, it sold a minority stake in the property to ING Office Fund, only to buy it back in 2012 for $172.7 million, which gave the property a $352.5 million valuation.
Office leasing volume in Manhattan reached 12.2 million square feet in the first quarter, the highest level of activity since the fourth quarter of 2019, when the borough recorded 12.7 million square feet, according to a report from Savills.
The quarter included 16 deals for 100,000 square feet or more, led by Jane Street Capital’s 400,000-square-foot expansion at Brookfield’s 250 Vesey Street.Â
The overall availability rate in the borough was 17.7 percent, down from 20 percent a year earlier. Availability at the highest-end buildings — trophy and Class A+ — fell below 12 percent across Manhattan and dropped to 7.5 percent in Midtown.Â
— Holden Walter-Warner
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Mega law firm Kirkland & Ellis expands to more than 500K sf at 601 Lex
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Paramount sells minority interest in 900 Third AvenueÂ
