Christie’s Renews 400 KSF Manhattan Lease

August 21, 2024

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The auction house has been a tenant at the location since 1997.

Exterior shot of a building within Rockefeller Center, the massive Manhattan complex — Rockefeller Center recently underwent significant renovations. *Image courtesy of Tishman Speyer*

Auction house Christie’s has inked a 25-year lease renewal at Rockefeller Center for office space, salerooms, public galleries and warehouses in the famed Midtown Manhattan office and retail city-within-the-city. The London-based Christie’s U.S. headquarters occupies about 400,000 square feet at 20 Rockefeller Plaza. Christie’s originally moved to Rockefeller Center in 1997, when it signed a 30-year lease.

The auction house’s decision validates the recent renovation of Rockefeller Center, Tishman Speyer CEO Rob Speyer said in prepared remarks. The work on the complex is slated to wrap up late this year.

Among other renovations, Tishman Speyer opened up the lower-level passageways surrounding the property’s well-known skating rink to stimulate pedestrian flow. The rink level is now also home to three marquee restaurants, NARO, Jupiter and 5 Acres, which join Le Rock and others.

Tishman Speyer also added to the complex’s retail offerings through local establishments, including Catbird, McNally Jackson and Todd Snyder, along with global brands such as Alo Yoga, Tiffany & Co. and Lego. High above the plaza level, the three-level Top of The Rock observation deck was also redeveloped.

CBRE’s Mary Ann Tighe, Ramneek Rikhy, Cara Chayet and Courtney Hughson represented Christie’s, along with Jen Yashar and Danielle Frank of Fried Frank. Landlord Tishman Speyer’s team was led by E.B. Kelly and was represented in-house by Blythe Kinsler and by Charlie Mileski of Davis & Gilbert.

A win for Midtown

The deal represents a positive development for Midtown Manhattan, especially the office market, which hasn’t fully recovered from the pandemic, though there has been improvement in the volume of leasing.

Demand for office space was up in the second quarter of 2024, with tenants taking 4.4 million square feet, up 25 percent quarter-over-quarter and 41.1 percent year-over-year, according to Colliers. Rents eked out a 0.1 percent gain, but were down 1 percent from a year ago.

Few recent leases are on the scale of Christie’s. However, in May, Bloomberg bested the deal by taking 946,800 square feet in a renewal at 731 Lexington Ave.