Law Firm Signs $900 Million Lease

Kira Bindrim
NewYork Business.com
June 25, 2007

Law Firm Cravath Swaine & Moore Will Pay Approximately $900 Million over 15 Years to Renew its Midtown Lease with Macklowe Properties Inc., According to Bloomberg News.

Manhattan-based Cravath, the third most-profitable law firm in the United States, will pay nearly $100 per square foot to stay at Worldwide Plaza, where it takes up 600,000 square feet of space. The firm was only paying $39 a square foot under its current lease, which expires in 2009, Bloomberg reported.

Cravath Swaine & Moore and Macklowe Properties were unavailable for immediate comment.

The deal marks one of the largest leases in Manhattan, followed by life insurer MetLife’s December agreement to pay about $850 million over 21 years for 410,000 square feet in the former Verizon building on Sixth Avenue at Bryant Park. The price hike reflects overall increases in midtown rents, which have surged 42% since October 2005, according to data compiled by real estate brokerage Colliers ABR.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Macklowe Properties president William Macklowe said that the new lease was "a long-term satisfactory solution for both landlord and tenant, and provides Cravath with a permanent home."

Worldwide Plaza is one of seven buildings that investor and Macklowe Properties founder Harry Macklowe bought in February for $6.7 billion, more than $1,000 per square foot, from Manhattan-based private equity firm Blackstone Group, which went public last week.

CB Richard Ellis group represented Macklowe in the deal and Studley Inc. represented Cravath.

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