Citadel Courted By Developers Of Planned Midtown Supertall As Anchor Tenant
Vornado Realty Trust and Rudin Management are looking at building a 1,450-foot office tower on Park Avenue in Manhattan, and they are eyeing a hedge fund as both an investor and anchor tenant.
The two landlords are courting Citadel to serve as an equity partner and eventual anchor tenant for their 350 Park Ave. project, The Real Deal reports.
Vornado and Rudin announced plans in 2019 for a 1.68M SF tower that would be the city’s third-tallest building and take up the entire block between East 51st and 52nd streets. They have projected a tentative opening date of 2027, New York YIMBY previously reported.
To make room the project, Vornado would knock down the office building it owns on, and Rudin would demolish its 40 East 52nd St. property, known as the Black Rock building. Demolition cannot begin until at least the end of 2023, when existing tenants’ leases expire, according to New York YIMBY.
Citadel manages $50B in assets, and has jumped on similar proposals in the past: The investment firm agreed to pay a rumored $300 per SF in 2015 for a piece of its space at 425 Park Ave., a pre-lease deal that was believed to be the highest office rent in U.S. history.
The investment firm recently expanded at 425 Park, taking up 415K SF over 20 floors. Citadel was previously Vornado's tenant at 350 Park, where it both leased and subleased a total of 120K SF prior to moving north to 425 Park, developed by L&L Holding Co.
Vornado and Rudin are among several developers that decided to pursue supersized new offices in Midtown East following a 2017 rezoning, intended to generate 6.8M SF of new office space and bring 6.6M SF of existing offices up to Class-A status.
RXR Realty and TF Cornerstone won city council approval in December for their joint plans to build a 1,575-foot-tall mixed-use building at 109 East 42nd St. to replace the Grand Hyatt. JPMorgan Chase was the first to take advantage of the Midtown East rezoning for their planned new global headquarters, an eventual 60-story, 1,388-foot-tall building at 270 Park.
