Durst Sues To Block A Bank Of America Sublease At Bank Of America Tower
The Durst Organization is taking two of its top tenants at One Bryant Park to court to stop them from doing a sublease deal together.
One Bryant Park LLC, the Durst affiliate that owns the building also known as Bank of America Tower, filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Bank of America and law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, both tenants at Durst’s flagship tower on Sixth Avenue.
The complaint, lodged in New York County Supreme Court, stems from Akin Gump's plan to sublease to Bank of America one of its floors in the building, where the two companies combine to lease nearly 2M SF. Durst claims the agreement violates the terms of both their leases.
Akin, which leased 200K SF across six floors in 2006 and renewed for 280K in 2019, asked Durst in June for permission to sublease the 46th floor of the building to BOA. Durst rejected the request last month, according to its suit, arguing the law firm's original lease prevents it from subleasing to any other tenant in the building if the landlord has “comparable space” now or within six months.
Plus, the lease does not allow the tenant to rent space to a party with which the landlord is actively negotiating. BOA has its Manhattan headquarters in the building with a 1.6M SF lease there.
Durst claims it has offered BOA the full 48th and 49th floors in the building, which are coming available within six months. The landlord argues a section of the lease it has with BOA specifically precludes it from subletting space from another tenant of the building “unless BOA first leases comparable space from Landlord that is then, or within nine months will be, available for leasing for a comparable term.”
Akin responded last week, the suits reads, claiming the higher floors aren't comparable and are occupied by Royal Realty Corp. and not becoming available. Akin said, too, that BOA is not in any active negotiations with Durst.
For its part, BOA responded the same day, Durst says, saying the rejection was “improper” and that the landlord has an obligation under its lease with Akin to allow the sublease to go ahead. In its letter, BOA told Durst it does not want the floors, and is under no obligation to lease them or "or any other floor in the Building for that matter.”
The bank claims it is not in any negotiations with the landlord.
Durst is asking the court to rule that it is within its rights to reject the request, because of the terms of the leases with both tenants. It also wants BOA and Akin to pay its legal fees. The exchange of responses amounts to irreconcilable differences it seeks the court to resolve.
Spokespeople for Durst and Bank of America declined to comment, as did Rosenberg & Estis, Durst's law firm. Request for comment to Akin Gump haven't been returned.
Sublease space is generally offered at lower rents than direct space — and in Manhattan, there was 24M SF of sublease space on the market in March, more than at any point in the past 15 years, Bisnow previously reported.
