NEW YORK CITY—Law firm Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP on Monday confirmed published reports that it plans to move its headquarters to an officer tower within Brookfield Property Partners' Manhattan West, the mixed-use complex now under development on the Far West Side. Spokespeople for BPY and the Durst Organization, which owns the 4 Times Square tower where Skadden is based currently, both declined comment Monday afternoon.

It's not clear how much space the law firm will occupy at Manhattan West, where it's the first tenant to sign on. At 4 Times Square, which Durst built in the 1990s, it occupies about 826,000 square feet in a lease that runs until 2020. The tower's other tenant, Condé Nast Publications Inc., is slated to begin moving to its new offices at One World Trade Center, in which Durst is an equity partner.

Skadden confirms that it has signed a letter of intent to take space at the BPY complex, but an LOI does not equal a leasing deal. A source familiar with negotiations tells GlobeSt.com that a finalized Skadden lease would mean the launch of construction on the planned 67-story, two-million-square-foot tower.

In common with the neighboring Hudson Yards mega-project now moving forward under the aegis of Related Cos. and Oxford Properties Group, Manhattan West requires that platforms be built over rail yards in active daily use by the Long Island Rail Road. The $2-billion Hudson Yards is further along in amassing a tenant roster, having secured major lease commitments from Time Warner, Coach Inc. and, most recently, Neiman Marcus, which will build its first Manhattan store there.—With additional reporting by Rayna Katz

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Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny is managing editor of Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com. He has been reporting on business since 1988 and on commercial real estate since 2007. He is based at ALM Real Estate Media Group's offices in New York City.