Jones Lang LaSalle


Law firm signs first lease for NYT building
by Julie Satow
May 31, 2006

Seyfarth Shaw will lease 100,000 square feet in the 620 Eighth Ave. building, where asking rents are $80 to $100 a square foot.

The law firm Seyfarth Shaw has signed the first lease at the New York Times Co. building under construction at 620 Eighth Ave., at 41st street.

The 17-year lease is for 100,000 square feet on floors 31 through 33. The asking rent in the building is $80 to $100 a square foot.

CB Richard Ellis began marketing the building, designed by Pritzker-Prize winning architect Renzo Piano, last year. It is the first new Class A office tower to be constructed on Eighth Ave. in several years.

We have a number of other leases out, but Seyfarth Shaw is the first to cross the finish line," said Forest City Ratner Cos. President Bruce Ratner, in a statement.

Forest City Ratner, which owns floors 29 through 52 with its financial partner ING Real Estate, expects it will be open for occupancy by the second quarter of 2007. The New York Times owns floors 2 though 28.

The new lease nearly doubles the space that Sayfarth Shaw now occupies on non-contiguous floors at 1270 Sixth Ave. The 80 lawyers who occupy the Sixth Ave. office will be relocated to the New York Times building.

"We have grown substantially in the past year," said Lorie Almon, a co-managing partner at Sayfarth Shaw. "Our new home complements our commitment to our long-term investment in New York." In the past year, the firm hired 35 new attorneys.

CB Richard Ellis represented both the building owner and the tenant on the transaction.