Signature Bank Doubles Up On Broadway With 280K SF Lease

Signature Bank is dramatically expanding its corporate presence in Midtown, inking an agreement that more than doubles its footprint at Empire State Realty Trust’s 1400 Broadway. 

The 15-year agreement will see the bank add more than 168K SF to its existing offices at the property, bringing Signature’s total occupancy to 280K SF across all or part of 10 of the building’s 37 floors, ESRT announced in a business update Wednesday. Asking rents were $67 per SF, with Signature expanding into space that had been occupied by other tenants until last month.

The local bank largely lends to commercial property owners, rent-regulated apartments and small businesses — all of which were battered by the pandemic. Nevertheless, the lender had a record third quarter as the city recovery accelerated, Crain's New York reported. 

Signature Bank’s expansion caps a fourth quarter that saw ESRT secure more than 327K SF of expanded leases and renewals. ESRT, a publicly traded REIT whose portfolio focuses on large, prewar office assets in New York City, including the Empire State Building, has been looking to recover from pandemic-related impacts that include the loss of a major tenant to bankruptcy and significantly reduced revenue from the Empire State Building’s observation deck, The Real Deal reports. 

ESRT’s also signed cosmetics company Clarins to a new 10-year, 15K SF lease at 1400 Broadway, where its new headquarters will occupy a full floor of the building at an asking rent of $67 per SF. 

The fourth quarter also saw ESRT active in the investment sales market, closing on a pair of Manhattan multifamily properties in a single deal valued at $307M. It was the office REIT’s first foray into multifamily since its creation in 2013. 

ESRT’s purchase gives it 625 studio, one- and two-bedroom units across two Class-A properties: the 45-story Victory at 561 10th Ave. and 30-floor 345 East 94th St. Both buildings were purchased from Fetner Properties, which will manage and maintain a minority stake in the buildings.