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Durst’s One World Trade Center boasts a 64th-floor Sky Lobby with a showpiece pool table as well as lounges and snack bars for Conde Nast and other big-name tenants.
Commercial landlords are wooing major tenants and their work-from-home-loving employees back to the office with unprecedented amenities — from golf simulators and rock-climbing walls to gourmet food and transcendental meditation rooms.
With Manhattan vacancies at a record 21%, building owners know that old-school executive suites aren’t nearly enough.
“An office tower without amenities is sunk in today’s market,” said a real estate broker who didn’t want to be named. “Today’s tenants are much more demanding. They love their jobs but they want to have a good time, too. And with so much space available, companies can pick and choose.”
The Durst Organization’s One World Trade boasts a 64th-floor Sky Lobby with a showpiece pool table as well as lounges and snack bars for Conde Nast and other big-name tenants. (A source said Anna Wintour has yet to be seen wielding the cue sticks.)
The amenities package, which is called Well& By Durst, proved so successful helping to fill One WTC — it’s more than 95% leased — that the landlord introduced it to his other properties such as One Five One in Times Square.
Lounges and other amenities have drawn tenants to One World Trade Center, which is currently 95% leased.
“Eight or nine years ago, amenities packages were very rare — maybe two or three in Manhattan,” said Durst principal David H. Neil. “Now, there about seventy of them, either open or in the works.”
Have a look.
Gourmet fare at 425 Park Avenue
Tenants at 425 Park Avenue can enjoy Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s fine fare at various venues in the building.
The brand-new, Norman Foster-designed office tower at East 56th Street is home to Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s spectacular new restaurant Four Twenty Five (pictured). But dealmakers at high-end occupants such as Citadel get access to a secret menu of sorts.
Vongerichten also runs a food-and-beverage program strictly for tenants in a triple-height, 26th-floor venue called the Diagrid Club. The club also boasts private “transcendental meditation” rooms and landscaped outdoor terraces.
It’s the sort of thing that the tower’s tenants, who are paying as much as $300 per square foot in rent — more than twice the high-end average — now insist on.
Vongerichten runs a food-and-beverage program strictly for tenants in a triple-height, 26th-floor venue called the Diagrid Club.
Jonathan Benno (left) serves as Jean Georges Vongerichten’s executive chef at Four Twenty Five.
Live music at 10 Grand Central
Element Music is one of the bands that has performed at 10 Grand Central.
Landlord Marx Realty urgently needed to add a “cool factor” to 10 Grand Central, a 1931 building that was previously known as 708 Third Avenue.
So, it spent $45 million to put the tower’s stodgy image behind it. In addition to adding a new lobby, a cozy lounge, landscaped alfresco terraces and even serve-yourself ice cream machines, Marx offers private live-entertainment in a 7,500 square-foot indoor-outdoor lounge.
Tenants, such as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions and financial firms Merchants Bancorp and DIF Capital Partners, get to enjoy live concerts at the end of a hard work day.
Amazing views at One Madison
The 5,100 square-foot outdoor rooftop terrace has views over Madison Square Park.
SL Green spent $2.3 billion — yup, $2.3 billion — to redesign and enlarge a classic 19th Century office building at Madison Avenue and East 23rd Street. To make the previously empty property competitive with other major re-developments, it spent a bundle on goodies for when the tower opens later this year.
Superchef Daniel Boulud, who’s launching a public steakhouse there, will also head up a grab-and-go cafe and bar strictly for future tenants which already include IBM and investment firm Franklin Templeton.
But, the real stunner is a 5,100 square-foot outdoor rooftop terrace with views over Madison Square Park.
A sporty paradise at the Seagram Building
Weary brokers in the Seagram building can unwind with a game of pickleball.
The landmark tower at 375 Park Avenue is known to the public for the Pool and Grill restaurants, formerly the Four Seasons. But ,outsiders don’t know about the pleasures available only to building tenants such as just-signed private equity firm Advent International, Brant Point Capital Management and Spanish law firm Perez-Llorca.
Beneath the tower’s avenue-fronting plaza lies the Playground, a $25 million, 34,000 square-foot recreational complex dreamed up by RFR Realty head Aby Rosen that opened in 2022.
Weary brokers and barristers have the run of facilities for pickleball, basketball, volleyball, floor hockey, pilates, a spin studio and even a rock-climbing wall.
“Tenants are seeing the Playground as a compelling differentiator from other locations,” said RFR leasing honcho AJ Camhi. “It’s one of the features that made them decide to come here.”
A $25 million, 34,000 square-feet recreational complex even features a rock climbing wall.
Games galore at 120 Broadway
A “time capsule” floor at 120 Broadway boasts a 1980s-style video game arcade.
At Larry Silverstein’s classic, Beaux Arts-style, 40-story tower downtown, the entire tenth floor was recently turned into a theme park. The “time capsule” floor boasts a 1980s-style video game arcade, a “secret” bar behind murals by acclaimed Japanese street artist Lady Aiko, and even a 1940s “detective’s office.”
The colorful evocations of earlier eras have helped to lure such prestigious tenants as architectural firm Beyer Blinder Belle and Macmillan books.
A yoga room, shuffleboard and a pool table add to the merry-making. A top-floor Bankers Club space that was once a private restaurant is also now open to all tenants and offers access to a rooftop lounge.
A 1940s detective’s office is a whimsical touch.
A top-floor Bankers Club space that was once a private restaurant is now open to all tenants and offers access to a rooftop lounge.
Rockefeller Center’s park in the sky
A green space on the roof of Radio City Music Hall, far removed from the bustle of the surrounding streets, can’t be seen from the sidewalk
Lucky folks who work at Rockefeller Center take breaks from drudgery to frolic and catch the sun in Radio Park.
The secret green space on the roof of Radio City Music Hall can’t be seen from the sidewalk, and it’s open only to tenants in the original landmarked Rockefeller complex — not the newer buildings along Sixth Avenue that are also considered to be part of today’s Rock Center.
Designed by landscape architects HMWhite, the serene, 24,000-square-foot oasis in the sky opened largely out of sight in the quiet spring of 2021.
Radio Park is open only to tenants in the original landmarked Rockefeller complex, not the newer buildings along Sixth Avenue that are also considered to be part of today’s Rock Center.
It’s sometimes used for programmed events as part of landlord Tishman Speyer’s ZO amenities program, but is usually open to all tenants, of which NBC, the tower’s original owner, is the most famous.
Sources claim to have spotted stars from “SNL” and “The Tonight Show” taking a break from the grind there.
A new pedestrian bridge added in 2023 connects the elevated park to a ZO lounge in office tower 1270 Sixth Ave.
An outdoor oasis at 590 Madison Avenue
An outdoor roof deck on the fourth-floor was just unveiled at 590 Madison Avenue.
IBM is soon departing from this black marble tower at East 57th Street, but it leaves behind a parting gift: a sprawling third-floor corporate cafeteria.
Building managers Edward S. Minksoff and Jeffrey Sussman are converting it into a 25,000 square-foot fun floor designed by architectural firm Gensler. It will feature food service, entertainment spaces and golf simulators and is set to open later this year.
But, the best part might be a just-unveiled, outdoor roof deck on a fourth-floor that was previously off-limits to tenants. Its central location amidst Manhattan’s bright lights make it an ideal platform from which to take in Midtown’s constellation of wealth and power.
UpSlide Signs 10-Year Midtown Lease with Marx RealtyBy: Emily Fu | March 12, 2024
Marx Realty has secured a 10-year lease agreement with UpSlide for 9,536 square feet at 10 Grand Central in Midtown.
UpSlide was represented by Lexie Perticone of Cushman & Wakefield, while JLL’s Mitchell Konsker, Kyle Young, Carlee Palmer, Simon Landmann, and Thomas Schwartz led the leasing efforts for Marx Realty. Asking rent for the building ranges from $68 to $130 per square foot.
Office leasing momentum continues at 10 Grand Central with UpSlide lease“10 Grand Central’s tenant roster represents a dynamic ecosystem that serves as a complement to finance, law, media and tech firms while providing collaborative spaces for employees to thrive,” said Craig Deitelzweig, president and CEO of Marx Realty. “With its state-of-the-art amenities, cutting-edge design, and an unparalleled warm and inviting atmosphere, UpSlide is poised to flourish in the building’s vibrant environment.”
By Julian Nazar | Mar 12, 2024
Tech provider UpSlide is the latest tenant to sign a lease at Midtown office building 10 Grand Central.
UpSlide will occupy a 9,500-square-foot space on the sixth floor of the building.
The lease is for 10 years.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Lexie Perticone represented UpSlide in the deal.
JLL’s Mitchell Konsker, Kyle Young, Carlee Palmer, Simon Landmann and Thomas Schwartz represented the landlord, Marx Realty.
Asking rents per square foot in the building range from $68 to $130.
UpSlide is moving to 10 Grand Central from a location at 1 Rockefeller Plaza.
Marx Realty CEO and President Craig Deitelzweig said in a statement UpSlide’s deal “comes on the heels of announcing 24,000 square feet of new and renewed office leases at the building last month.”
Among the recently signed deals are leases with The Completed Life Initiative, law firm Freedman Normand Friedland, Rebalance Management and Bancorp Bank.
In the past year, Marx Realty has leased more than 94,000 square feet of office and retail space at 10 Grand Central, a 432,400-square-foot property.
Other tenants in the building include Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s production company, Seven Bucks Productions; insurance company MassMutual; and international news agency Agence France-Presse.
Deals of the Day: March 13March 13, 2024
Marx Realty lands 10 Grand Central tenant
Address: 10 Grand Central, Manhattan
Landlord: Marx Realty
Tenant: UpSlide
Lease size: 9,536 square feet
Lease length: 10 years
Asking rent: $68 to $130 per square foot
Asset type: Office
Brokers: Cushman & Wakefield’s Lexie Perticone represented the tenant. A JLL team led by Mitchell Konsker, Kyle Young, Carlee Palmer, Simon Landmann, and Thomas Schwartz represented the landlord.
By: Phil Hall | Mar 13, 2024
The property developer and manager Marx Realty announced a new tenant at 10 Grand Central, its historically significant office property in New York City.
UpSlide, a provider of productivity and brand compliance Software-as-a-Service solutions to the finance industry, has signed a 10-year, 9,536-square-foot lease on the sixth floor at 10 Grand Central. Asking rent for the building ranges from $68 to $130 per square foot.
“We welcome UpSlide to 10 Grand Central’s unique and exceptional tenant roster,” said Craig Deitelzweig, president and CEO of Marx Realty. “UpSlide’s lease comes on the heels of announcing 24,000 square feet of new and renewed office leases at the building last month. The leasing velocity here stands as a testament to the success of 10 Grand Central’s one-of-a-kind hospitality-infused offering while companies continue to compete for the few remaining available spaces.”
UpSlide was represented by Lexie Perticone of Cushman & Wakefield. JLL’s Mitchell Konsker, Kyle Young, Carlee Palmer, Simon Landmann, and Thomas Schwartz led the team handling leasing for Marx Realty.
Originally designed in 1931 by architect Ely Jacque Kahn, 10 Grand Central is a 35-story property located at 155 East 44th St., down the street from Grand Central Station. The building’s tenants includes the bank holding company Merchants Bancorp, the global asset manager Fin Capital, the global independent fund manager DIF Capital Partners, insurance provider MassMutual, the Agence France-Presse news agency and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s production company Seven Bucks Productions.
D.C.’s Historic Crime Wave Is Scaring Away Office Tenants And RetailersWashington, D.C.Economic Development
March 8, 2024 | Emily Wishingrad, Washington, D.C.
One morning last July, an office tenant near McPherson Square in Downtown D.C. requested a security escort from the building’s management. The tenant’s guests, staying at hotels a few blocks away, were afraid to walk to the office alone after they had witnessed an armed robbery at a building next door.
Blake Real Estate President Owen Billman, whose firm owns the building at 1425 K St. NW, said the landlord couldn’t provide an escort, but the property’s staff suggested the guests take a cab or an Uber for the two-block trip.
It is an incident that’s seared into Billman’s memory. His firm owns several 1960s and 1970s-era office buildings downtown, and he told Bisnow the moment illustrated similar concerns he has heard from tenants over the past year as D.C. has seen a spike in crime.
“That was a big red flag,” he said.
“If people aren’t feeling like I can walk a block to get from my office or my guests shouldn’t walk the block to get from their hotel to the building or from the building back to their hotel, that’s a problem,” Billman added. “And that’s the kind of thing that would then have, in my mind, have a tenant consider, ‘Do I want to be downtown?’”
Many U.S. cities saw crime increase during the first years of the pandemic before receding, but in D.C., violent crime incidents spiked to their highest levels this century. Organized retail theft and vandalism have taken a toll on local businesses, but there have also been high-profile carjackings and homicides in the heart of the city’s central business district.
On a Monday evening in late January, a real estate lobbyist was fatally shot in a carjacking spree near the convention center, and later that night, a 35-year-old father of two was shot and killed near the NoMa-Gallaudet U Metro station as part of the same spree.
Less than two weeks later, the CEO of a federal government tech contractor died after an altercation at Midtown Center, the office complex that Fannie Mae has decided to vacate early.
More than a dozen D.C. commercial real estate industry leaders have said in recent weeks that crime in the District has become a top concern among companies considering taking office or retail space.
The same fear is driving developers to reconsider where they build and investors to rethink whether they should bet on the city.
“You have folks who are looking at breaking their leases because of crime or costs associated with crime,” said Eric Jones, vice president of government affairs for D.C.’s Apartment and Office Building Association. “People aren’t coming into the office or everyone leaves at 3 p.m. because you don’t want to be in the city when it gets dark.”
District officials and policymakers have taken steps to address the concerns. The D.C. Council on Tuesday passed an omnibus bill aimed at curbing crime, and the mayor’s office installed an inaugural safety hub in Chinatown and unveiled the Downtown Action Plan, which recommends the District invest $31.5M for public safety measures over the next five years.
Those measures need to start getting results soon, industry leaders say, because a rise in crime over the last year has damaged the image of D.C. among tenants and investors.
“The big issue right now is that sentiment is pretty bad,” Feldman Ruel Urban Property Advisors co-founder Ian Ruel said.
Homicides in D.C. last year were at a 26-year high. Violent crime was up 39% from the year before, and property crime was up 24%, according to D.C. Metropolitan Police Department data. Carjackings nearly doubled in 2023. Crime has started to trend down this year, with violent crime and property crime both down 12% from 2023.
Ruel acknowledged that there has been a dip in crime to start the year, but he said it needs to be sustained to change the attitudes of investors, many of whom don’t live in the city.
“The sentiment is: ‘D.C. is impossible to do business in, there’s crime that’s rampant everywhere, and there’s a better option right across the river,’” he said. “So why would you take a risk in D.C.?”
The Impact
Lobbying firm The Madison Group had its office at 15th and L streets northwest for more than a dozen years, but after the pandemic-induced remote work shift, Managing Partner Robb Watters said the streets around its workplace became noticeably less safe.
“In the last couple of years, you could just see everything turn,” he said. “Businesses are boarding up and crime is rampant. There’s less of a police presence.”
Watters decided to relocate his company in 2022 to 1730 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, a block he said felt safer due to its proximity to the White House. He said being a lobbying firm meant he needed to maintain a downtown D.C. presence. Otherwise, he would have left the District due to safety concerns.
“We have to be in Washington,” Watters said. “If we didn’t, I’d be in Virginia in a second.”
Newmark Senior Managing Director Doug Damron, who represented Madison Group in its move, said crime has become a much greater concern for office users over the last four years, as the city has seen a “downward spiral.”
“My clients want to feel safe and secure, and if things aren’t fixed quickly, they will move out of the District,” he said.
Erica King, who represents office tenants as a leasing broker with Cresa, said concerns about crime are driving leasing decisions.
“We’re seeing clients give a really hard look at where they want to be located, really because of the crime,” she said. 
Last spring, Craig Deitelzweig was looking at purchasing an office building in downtown D.C.
But the property was next to a downtown park that didn’t feel safe, so he decided against the acquisition, the CEO of New York-based Marx Realty said at a Bisnow event this week.
“That does come into our thinking,” he said. “The park is now doing a lot better, but even still, we remember what that park was like during the ‘bad days,’ and we prefer to be a few blocks away from that park.”
CBRE Executive Vice President Amy Bowser said that for the first time in her 25-year career, crime considerations are regularly coming into leasing conversations.
“It really hasn’t been until the last year and a half that I’ve been on multiple calls with brokers, and tenant parties present as well, discussing the crime stats by neighborhood as they’re analyzing their relocation options,” Bowser, who represents landlords in the District, said onstage at a Commercial Real Estate Women Network event in January.
She clarified through a CBRE spokesperson that crime hasn’t affected any of her deals.
The East End, which encompasses Metro Center, Penn Quarter and Mount Vernon Triangle, has been pulled off many tenants’ lists, King said, with the Gallery Place-Chinatown stretch a particular concern. Tenants she is worked with in the District are now only looking at buildings with 24-hour security.
“Security is on the forefront of everyone’s priority list,” she said.
In 2022, Walmart shifted its government affairs office from Chinatown to the Capitol Riverfront neighborhood in Southeast D.C. A source involved in the deal told Bisnow it decided to leave its lease at 701 Eighth St. NW two years early after a homicide in front of its building.
“That killing was part of why they wanted to get out of there,” the source said.
The source, who was granted anonymity to discuss confidential leasing considerations, added that Walmart appears to be an outlier and most tenants aren’t making relocation decisions due to crime. Walmart didn’t respond to Bisnow’s request for comment.
Last month, the owner of Stadium Sports Bar & Smokehouse, near where Walmart relocated, announced the restaurant would close due to crime, just a few doors from where Lululemon closed earlier in the year after the store was robbed at gunpoint.
Brine Oyster & Seafood House in November shuttered both of its locations, in Dupont and on H Street Northeast. Its owners cited rising costs and crime. A CVS in Columbia Heights closed in February after months of dealing with thefts that left shelves empty.
“Crime does affect people’s dining out patterns and shopping patterns, and if it affects them, then that will affect where a thoughtful retail tenant will look to locate,” Miller Walker Retail Real Estate co-founder Bill Miller said.
Miller said D.C. tenants looking to expand are broadening their searches to the Maryland and Virginia suburbs for the first time, prioritizing proximity to their customers who may not want to make the trip into the city.
Billman said Blake Real Estate’s downtown buildings are seeing very little interest from new retailers.
“Retailers can locate in any part of town. They can locate in the suburbs, Bethesda and Arlington, they can be in Georgetown. So they don’t have to be on Connecticut Avenue, and they’re choosing not to be right now,” he said. “So new retail downtown has been challenging.”
Blake’s tenants have experienced break-ins, smash-and-grabs and suspects just walking in the door and taking merchandise, Billman said.
D.C.’s business improvement districts regularly field complaints from community members and businesses, and the leaders of two downtown BIDs, DowntownDC BID President Gerren Price and Golden Triangle BID’s Leona Agouridis, say they have heard many about crime.
“We are absolutely hearing from people who are concerned that they have an employee who left the building and faced an uncomfortable encounter with someone on the street, or someone who was picking up someone from a vehicle to be harmed or to be hurt in a carjacking,” Price told Bisnow. “So there are real concerns that we’re hearing about.”
The Response
City officials and policymakers say they are aware of the problems and are taking steps to address them.
“Public safety, and its impact on residents and businesses, is the District’s top priority,” Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development Nina Albert told Bisnow in a statement.
“We are committed to a whole-of-government approach to driving down crime, and we are already seeing positive results from the interventions we have put in place since last summer. Crime is down the first two months of this year, and with this week’s passage of Secure DC, we are taking another critical step toward building a safer, stronger DC.”
On Tuesday, the D.C. Council passed the Secure D.C. Omnibus Amendment Act, which creates “drug-free zones,” rolls back some restrictions placed on police officers in pursuing suspects and allows for harsher punishments for crimes like illegal gun possession and retail theft.
The Downtown Action Plan, spearheaded by the BIDs and released last week, recommends the District invest $31.5M in public safety through measures like creating a real crime policy center, drafting legislation targeting coordinated retail theft and expanding resources for a recently implemented safety grant program.
“We weren’t originally going to talk about public safety in the Downtown Action Plan,” Agouridis told Bisnow. “And then we started to really talk to people, and people brought it up. It came up as part of being critical for economic development.”
Although members of the real estate community who spoke with Bisnow said initiatives like these are a good start, they said there needs to be more in the pipeline.
“Until we see the work be put into action, the general sentiment is there’s not a tremendous amount of high hope for what’s currently being proposed,” Cresa’s King said.
Seventy business associations and industry groups wrote a letter to the mayor and council at the end of February to express a “deep concern about the alarming increase in violent crime across our city.”
The letter referenced seven high-profile violent crimes within the last year, five of which resulted in deaths. It included an incident last month that hit especially close to home for the real estate community. A Housing Policy Council executive and former Trump administration official, Mike Gill, was shot as part of a carjacking rampage, and he later died. The incident was in central downtown, on the 900 block of K Street Northwest.
Like cities across the country, D.C. has a shortage of police officers. Last March, the force was the smallest it had been in half a century, with just over 3,350 sworn officers, a number that had declined further by August, WJLA reported. Mayor Muriel Bowser in April announced a $25K hiring bonus to attract officers.
Agouridis remembers a time when the Golden Triangle area had dedicated foot and bike patrol officers.
“They’re gone now, and we can’t get them back, at least not until they staff up,” she said.
That shortage is affecting how tenants can respond to safety concerns.
When restaurants or bars request police security, there are sometimes not enough officers to go around, Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington President Shawn Townsend said. Even in instances when a restaurant or bar is ordered by the city to request security following an incident, the officers may not show up.
“Our officers have so many other priorities that they can’t even work the overtime requests that some of our nightlife venues have put in,” he said.
Conversations among the owners and managers that make up AOBA’s membership about increasing security costs by tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars used to be a rarity, Jones said. Now, it’s a given, with more operators hiring armed guards.
“Having that conversation now, that conversation is, ‘How much have your costs gone up, five or six figures?’” he said.
At the beginning of the month, the mayor unveiled $950K in funding for the Safe Commercial Corridors Grant Program to “promote public safety and public health through evidence-based activities for residents, workers, and visitors.”
The Golden Triangle BID and the DowntownDC BID were two of six organizations to receive funding. Agouridis said the program will help fill the void of the regular MPD foot and bike patrols that she was accustomed to.
For the DowntownDC BID, the grant will be directed to hiring ambassadors for the Gallery Place-Chinatown corridor to build relationships with businesses and support MPD. While Price said the BID is excited about the effort, he knows it isn’t enough to change the narrative.
“Things like that are just the tip of the iceberg,” he said. “We have to do more to make sure that people feel safe.”
TruArc Partners Signs 10,000 SF Office Lease Extension in Midtown ManhattanFebruary 19, 2024
NEW YORK CITY — TruArc Partners has signed a 10,000-square-foot office lease extension at 545 Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. The private equity firm will remain on the 10th floor of the 18-story, 140,000-square-foot building for another seven years. Tara Stacom led a Cushman & Wakefield team that represented the landlord, Marx Realty, in the lease negotiations. Evan Margolin and Ben Levy of JLL represented TruArc Partners.
TruArc Partners Renews Lease For 10,000 SF Office Space At 545 Madison AvenueFebruary 16, 2024
TruArc Partners has renewed their lease for 10,000 square feet at 545 Madison Avenue in Manhattan. The lease, which marks a 7-year extension, highlights Marx Realty’s successful repositioning of the property, resulting in elevated occupancy rates and rents ranging from $86 to $135 per square foot.
Summary of transaction details:
- Property Type: Office
- Transaction Amount: $135/ft ~ SF: 10,000
- Address: 545 Madison Avenue
- Market: Manhattan
The landlord of 545 Madison Avenue is Craig Deitelzweig from Marx Realty. The tenant, TruArc Partners, was represented by Ben Levy and Evan Margolin from JLL. Craig Deitelzweig was represented by Tara Stacom from Cushman & Wakefield.
TruArc Partners Signs Extension At Marx Realty’s 545 MadisonFebruary 14, 2024
Marx Realty, a New York-based owner, developer and manager of office, retail and multifamily property across the United States, announced private equity firm TruArc Partners has signed a 7-year, 10,000-square-foot lease extension on the 10th floor at 545 Madison. A Cushman & Wakefield team led by Tara Stacom represented ownership while TruArc Partners was represented by JLL’s Evan Margolin and Ben Levy; the asking rent in the building ranges from $86 to $135 per square foot.
“TruArc Partners has been a terrific addition to the building since they first joined back in 2020,” said Marx Realty’s President and CEO, Craig Deitelzweig. “We are delighted to announce their re-commitment to 545 Madison with the signing of this extension; a testament to the enduring trust in Marx Realty’s team and the distinctive hospitality-inspired features of the building. Tenants are particularly excited about the building’s partnership with Baccarat.”
Marx Realty infused 545 Madison with its signature hospitality aesthetic, fully redefining and transforming the property. The $24 million repositioning goes far beyond surface alterations and has effectively created an office environment that mirrors the sensory experience and home-away-from-home ambiance found at the world’s finest hotels. This innovative approach has both established a new benchmark in the industry and has met the growing demand for top-tier office spaces. Marx Realty continues to maintain elevated occupancy rates across its portfolio while attracting the city’s most prestigious tenants to 545 Madison.
Marx Realty acquired the 140,000-square-foot, 18-story office tower in 2019 and took on the challenge of repositioning 545 Madison, a property with occupancy rates as low as 68 percent. Through a strategic, hospitality-driven approach, the company created a true success story in terms of increased occupancy and asking rents. Today, the office tower is nearly fully occupied, showcasing Marx Realty’s unique ability to not only increase occupancy rates but command higher rents, ranging from $86 to $135 per square foot, a significant improvement from the previous rental rates, attesting to the building’s newfound desirability as one of the premiere buildings in the Plaza District.
TruArc Partners’ lease extension comes on the heels of Marx Realty’s co-branding venture with Baccarat, as reported by the New York Post. Baccarat committed to a 10,000-square-foot lease within the building and will weave its timeless 260-year-old brand aesthetic into 545 Madison’s own fabric.
The entrance and lobby underwent a comprehensive redesign, featuring a uniformed doorman and a concierge-like greeter combined with the warm design sensibility created by the walnut wood, soft curves and well-appointed seating areas gracing the space. The Leonard Lounge — a 7,000-square-foot indoor/outdoor space with a café, a 2,000-square-foot landscaped terrace, and a 40-seat boardroom — exudes the exclusive feel of a members-only club with its ceiling-suspended fireplace and plush velvet seating.
As part of Marx Realty’s ongoing commitment to the environment, the company is planting three trees in the local community for each lease signed in any of its office properties. This initiative is just one of many ways in which Marx Realty gives back to the community and ensures sustainability throughout its properties. By continuing this tradition, Marx Realty is helping promote healthier and more vibrant communities for all.
Financial software and applications developer Strike Technologies was the first to sign at 545 Madison soon after Marx took over and presented its plans for the building. Other notable tenants include private equity firm Snow Phipps, Vialto Partners (a spinoff of Price Waterhouse Coopers), Qurate Retail Group (formerly HSN), Ogden Capital, Corniche Growth Advisors, and Baccarat as well as several top-tier wealth management and private equity firms.
Private Equity Firm TruArc Partners Renews at 545 Madison AvenueBy Rebecca Baird-Remba | February 15, 2024
Financial firm TruArc Partners is staying put at 545 Madison Avenue.
The 3-year-old private equity outfit signed a seven-year, 10,000-square-foot lease extension on the 10th floor of the 18-story building, according to landlord Marx Realty. Asking rent in the building ranges from $86 to $135 per square foot.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Tara Stacom represented the landlord, while JLL’s Evan Margolin and Benjamin Levy handled the deal for TruArc. Spokespeople for C&W and JLL didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
Craig Deitelzweig, the president and CEO of Marx Realty, described the lease as “a testament to the enduring trust in Marx Realty’s team and the distinctive hospitality-inspired features of the building.” Marx recently co-branded the property with luxury brand Baccarat, which took 10,000 square feet of office space on the top floor of the building in the process.
Marx acquired the 140,000-square-foot office building in 2019 and then undertook a $24 million renovation. The work included adding a 7,000-square-foot tenant amenity spacewith a lounge, cafe, landscaped terrace and boardroom and revamping the entrance and lobby with a midcentury aesthetic.
Several other financial firms are in the building, including Snow Phipps, Corniche Growth Advisors, GTS and Helix Partners. Financial tech firm Strike Technologies has been a tenant there for more than a decade, and Qurate Retail Group — formerly known as HSN — also has space in the building.