Global litigation law firm Scott+Scott expanded at RXR Realty’s 230 Park Ave., taking a 21,300-square-foot direct lease to replace a smaller sublease on a different floor.
It might seem modest in a 1.3 million square-foot tower. But RXR executive VP and New York managing director Bill Elder said it typifies the activity at 230 Park and in the Grand Central area as a whole.
The tower also known as the Helmsley Building, which enjoyed a $190 million infrastructure upgrade, is about 80% leased and Elder said more leases are in the pipeline. In the blocks around the terminal, some properties “are 100% leased. There’s no vacancy.”
He noted, “There’s a ton of activity at [Milstein’s and Brookfield’s] 22 Vanderbilt” nearby — where, as we reported, a 250,000 square-foot lease for Bain & Co. appears to be imminent.
Elder sees the office resurgence reflected in his once-lonely MetroNorth ride to the terminal in the morning. Now, “I can’t get a seat any more,” he said.
Realty Check saw the phenomenon at Bobby Van’s on 230 Park’s ground floor. The huge steakhouse was packed — and loud — on recent weekday visits when bankers, lawyers and real estate execs chowed down on shrimp parmesan and some of the city’s finest porterhouse.
Owner Rick Passerelli told us business is back to pre-pandemic levels “except on Friday, which used to be our busiest lunch. But even that is starting to pick up,” he said.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
