RXR Taps C&W to Lease 75 Rock

NEW YORK CITY-Less than a week after landing the leasing assignment for one office tower in the Rockefeller Center area, Cushman & Wakefield has picked up another. The firm said Tuesday that RXR Realty Corp. has appointed it as exclusive leasing agent for the office portion of 75 Rockefeller Plaza, on which RXR scored a 99-year triple-net lease this past January.

A C&W team led by Bruce Mosler, chairman of global brokerage, Tara Stacom, executive vice chairman; Mikael Nahmias, senior managing director; Ethan Silverstein, director; and Peter Alden, senior associate, will serve as exclusive leasing agent on the 66-year-old office property. When RXR acquired the leasehold on the 33-story tower earlier this year, the Uniondale, NY owner/developer said it planned a repositioning. A C&W team represented 75 Rockefeller's ownership, 75 Plaza LLC, on that deal.

In January, RXR said 75 Rock is expected to be delivered completely vacant, including retail, in the summer of 2014, at which point the company will launch into redeveloping and repositioning the asset. The program will include a new lobby and elevator cabs, and additional amenities including outdoor areas and green space, all designed by architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates. A completion date of third-quarter 2015 is anticipated.

“We are honored to have the opportunity to create a modern classic asset at 75 Rockefeller Plaza,” Scott Rechler, RXR's chairman and CEO, said in January. “We fully appreciate the historic attributes of the building and neighborhood, but with that in mind, we also are very excited about our opportunity to completely modernize everything inside the building. When renovations are complete it will be the newest, most advanced, LEED-certified building in all of Rockefeller Center.” It will also be tantamount to the first new construction there since the property opened its doors as the Esso Building in 1947.

Adds Stacom, in a release, “The concept to build a brand new building within an existing shell is unique in its approach as it allows 75 Rockefeller Plaza to be restored with all of the 21st century office attributes while preserving its distinct characteristic as a Rockefeller Center landmark.”

Last Friday, GlobeSt.com reported that the Rockefeller Group had named C&W as leasing agent for 1221 Ave. of the Americas. The 2.5-million-square-foot tower has a contiguous block of approximately 537,000 square feet, which will become available in the fourth quarter of this year. Currently it represents the largest contiguous block of available class A office space in Midtown.