NEW YORK CITY-Law firm Morrison & Foerster LLP is taking 180,000 square feet as the first tenant to commit to Boston Properties’ revived 250 W. 55th St., the Boston-based REIT announced late Tuesday afternoon. BXP had put the one-million-square-foot office project on hold two years ago in the wake of the capital markets crisis.

“Our decision to proceed with construction reflects the city’s improving overall economy and the office market in particular,” Mortimer Zuckerman, the REIT’s chairman and CEO, says in a statement. He predicts that upon completion, the 39-story office tower “will be considered among the elite office buildings in Manhattan.”

Earlier this spring, GlobeSt.com reported that Morrison & Foerster had signed a letter of intent to take as much as 200,000 square feet at the new tower. According to the law firm, the 15-year deal entails occupying seven floors with an option to add two more. Construction of 250 W. 55th is scheduled to resume as early as this fall, and the law firm expects to move into its space in the spring of 2014.

Work on the tower had begun as long ago as late 2007 and had reached grade level by the time BXP suspended construction in early 2009. GlobeSt.com reported at the time that a large law firm, reportedly Proskauer Rose, was in negotiations for around 500,000 square feet at 250 W. 55th, but landlord and prospective tenant failed to come to terms. As a result, the REIT deemed the Midtown project “economically infeasible in today’s environment.” A little more than a year later, Proskauer committed to a 20-year deal for more than 400,000 square feet at SJP Properties’ 11 Times Square.

Before suspending work on 250 W. 55th, BXP had fabricated all of the structural steel to complete the tower. It stored that steel as well as portions of the curtain wall parts, according to a release. The project was enrolled in the New York City Department of Buildings’ “Stalled Sites Program,” and its full building permit and other approvals remain in full force and effect, BXP says. Turner Construction Co. has been tapped as the construction manager for the project.

BXP says the total project cost is expected to be approximately $1.05 billion, and the REIT’s incremental cost to complete the project, excluding capitalized interest, is expected to be approximately $400 million. With development on the tower resuming, BXP says it has begun interest capitalization on its existing investment of approximately $480 million “and will capitalize the remaining project costs as incurred.”

A CB Richard Ellis team of EVPs Paul Myers and John Maher and SVP Tom Shirocky represented the law firm in lease negotiations. Internally, Morrison & Foerster real estate partner Mark Edelstein led lease negotiations on the firm's behalf, along with partners John McCarthy and Peter Aitelli. Bob Safron and Russell Wohl, both of law firm Patterson Belknap Webb Tyler LLP, served as the tenant's outside legal counsel on the deal. Another CBRE team, including John Powers, chairman of the tri-state region, and EVP Peter Turchin, represented BXP.

With the improving outlook for Manhattan’s office sector, other high-profile projects that had gone dormant are seeing the light of day again. Bloomberg reported last week that Brookfield Office Properties was planning to start work again on Midtown West, a mixed-use project near the Hudson Yards development site that would include a 60-story office tower and another office building 64 stories in height. Another REIT powerhouse, Vornado Realty Trust, is reportedly looking at reviving its planned 1.5-million-square-foot tower over the Port Authority Bus Terminal, with the possibility of starting work without pre-leasing.