Midtown East Towers Draw Full-Floor Tenants

NEW YORK CITY-A pair of tenants in related disciplines—professional learning and professional information—each signed for a full floor of office space in the Grand Central submarket of Midtown East in two separate deals announced Wednesday. Gerson Lehrman Group, said to be the world's largest membership-based network for professional learning and expertise, is moving its global headquarters to W&H Properties' One Grand Central Place. A few blocks north at 230 Park Ave., owned by Monday Properties and Invesco, Reed Elsevier's LexisNexis unit will establish its New York City headquarters.

GLG has leased a total of 64,361 square feet at One Grand Central, the 55-story office tower at 60 E. 42nd St., taking the entire third floor and part of the fourth in a space that will combine the two floors with a newly installed atrium. It's consolidating from offices at 845 Third Ave. and 850 Third Ave., in the process expanding its footprint by 15,000 square feet.

“Our mission is to transform the way the world's top professionals gather and share expertise, and teach and learn,” says GLG's president, Alexander Saint-Amand. “We believe our new global headquarters will help us do that, as we create a unique environment designed to enhance work flow and the sharing of information and ideas, in addition to allowing for our continued growth.”

Gary Kamenetsky and Robert Meyers of CBRE represented GLG in the lease negotiations. William Cohen and Ryan Kass of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank negotiated on behalf of the landlord.

The deal provides “an example of the transition we are making throughout our portfolio to better tenants with strong business models and exciting growth prospects,” says Anthony Malkin, president of Malkin Holdings LLC, which supervises the W&H Properties portfolio. “This is exactly what we had in mind when we repositioned this pre-war trophy property with an $85-million upgrade program.” Formerly known as the Lincoln Building, One Grand Central Place dates from 1930.

At 230 Park, a 35-story tower of similar vintage, Reed Elsevier has inked an even larger deal, signing on for a full-floor space of 71,083 square feet on the property's seventh floor. The company's Lexis/Nexis unit is relocating its New York operations from 125 Park Ave.  Monday Properties' project management team will build out the new space for Reed Elsevier; it will feature an open plan and extensive collaborative areas.

Reed Elsevier was represented by a Cushman & Wakefield team that included John Cefaly, Kevin Daly and Clark Finney. Monday Properties was represented in-house by director Jordan Berger, along with the 230 Park co-agency team from Jones Lang LaSalle: Frank Doyle, Jonathan Fanuzzi, Paul Glickman and David Kleiner.