New York City—Midtown Manhattan is not passively sitting back as Hudson Yards lures tenants to move to the far West side. Rockefeller Group announced on Tuesday that Mizuho Americas expanded its plans for occupancy at the redeveloped 1271 Avenue of the Americas in Rockefeller Center, leasing an additional 270,000 square feet.

The lease follows the June announcement of Mizuho's 141,000 square-foot lease in the building. It nearly triples the size of the financial institution's future US headquarters, increasing its occupancy at 1271 Avenue of the Americas to 411,000 square feet. Mizuho will move into the space in 2019, relocating employees from multiple locations to the 2.1 million square-foot, 48-story tower.

“We are reaching capacity at our existing leases and look forward to consolidating our many offices throughout the city in one, world-class location that affords us the ability to continue implementing our expansion plans,” says John Buchanan, head of strategy, Mizuho Americas.

Ed Guiltinan, senior vice president and head of leasing in New York for Rockefeller Group, says, “This commitment, as well as last year's decision by Major League Baseball to relocate to the building and the high level of interest from other prospective tenants, demonstrates the market's positive reception to the ongoing renovations to this iconic asset.” He describes the property as a rare opportunity to relocate to virtually new construction in the heart of Midtown. The tower is located on the west side of Sixth Avenue, between 50th and 51st streets.

Rockefeller Group declined to disclose additional terms of the lease including price or the agreed duration. However, Brian P. Mahoney, director, corporate communications, at Rockefeller Group tells GlobeSt.com that effective January 1, 2018, the entire 1271 Avenue of the Americas building will be vacant for the redevelopment work. On July 1, 2018, re-tenanting the building will begin. By December 31, 2019, redevelopment and re-tenanting is expected to be completed.

In 2016, Rockefeller Group began a $600 million redevelopment of 1271, with the architectural firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. The project includes replacement of the building's glass curtain wall, allowing approximately 60% more natural light into the interior space and enhancing the views, and restoration of the landmarked lobby. Approximately 1.3 million square feet is available for lease in the building's tower floors, which average 39,000 square feet. Mahoney says Rockefeller Group “is engaged in very active negotiations with several tenant prospects to lease the balance of the redeveloped building.”

First completed in 1959, 1271 was designed by Harrison & Abromovitz & Harris, the architects for all of Rockefeller Center. It was built by George A. Fuller Company, which had constructed several architecturally significant, New York City buildings, including the United Nations headquarters, Lever House and the Seagram Building.

Rockefeller Group reports since last October it has completed more than 1.5 million square feet of new leases and renewals at 1271 and 1221 Avenue of the Americas, with tenants in industries spanning entertainment, technology, media, finance, insurance, consulting and law.

Mizuho Americas is part of the Japan-based Mizuho Financial Group, one of the largest financial institutions in the world, with over 900 offices, 56,000 employees in nearly 40 countries, and total assets of $1.8 trillion at the end of 2016.

Mizuho was represented by Savills Studley brokers, Mitchell Steir, Matthew Barlow, Steve Berliner and David Goldstein. Rockefeller Group was represented by the CBRE team, Mary Ann Tighe, Howard Fiddle, John Maher, Sarah Pontius, Evan Haskell and Dave Caperna, with the in-house leasing team of Ed Guiltinan, Jennifer Stein, Yoshinori Nakamura, Yoko Yamada and Eden Jeon.

Instant Insights /

Mizuho Americas Expands by 270,000 SF at Rockefeller Center

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