Investment Firm Signs Lease at Manhattan Trophy Tower

June 20, 2024

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The owner intends to invest more than $27 million in property improvements.

Property at 452 Fifth Ave., Manhattan, N.Y. — The tower features an exterior glass curtain wall made of glass panels, granite and brick with terra cotta window trim. Image courtesy of JLL

Brighton Park Capital Management has signed a 16,428-square-foot, 10-year lease at the 30-story 452 Fifth Ave. building, a Class A office tower in Downtown Manhattan. The owner, Property & Building Corp. Ltd., a subsidiary of Discount Investment Corp., made the space available in an off-market deal arranged by JLL and Newmark.

The investment and technology firm will relocate from 299 Park Ave.’s 17th floor and occupy the entire 21st floor at the 616,352-square-foot, PBC-owned building.

Part of a four-building office campus totaling 865,339 square feet, 452 Fifth Ave. underwent renovations in 2014. As of February 2024, PBC planned to further reposition the vintage campus built between 1904 and 1926, which is in the process of being rebranded as 10 Bryant. The company intends to invest some $27.4 million in improvements, according to a report by Newmark.

Last month, PBC issued secured bonds in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange to pay off the outstanding $385 million loan from JP Morgan Chase that encumbered the property.

The LEED Gold-certified campus encompasses office floorplates ranging between 14,690 and 54,657 square feet. Additionally, it includes a total of 80,411 square feet of retail space spread throughout the ground floor, lower and mezzanine levels. Located in Downtown Manhattan, the property is within walking distance of Bryant Park.

As of August 2023, HSBC was the anchor tenant, occupying 547,963 square feet of office, retail and storage space under a lease set to expire in April 2025. Another recently inked agreement involves tenant Generate Capital, which committed to 32,421 square feet.

JLL Vice Chairman Paul Glickman and Executive Managing Director Ben Bass, Senior Vice President Kristen Morgan and Senior Associate Kate Roush represented PBC. Newmark Chairman Neil Goldmacher along with Executive Managing Director Josh Friedman and Director Cooper Weisman negotiated the lease on behalf of the tenant.

Manhattan’s office vacancy rate inches upward

As of April, Manhattan’s office vacancy rate stood at 17.6 percent, up 80 basis points year-over-year, according to a recent CommercialEdge report. Asking rates in the borough clocked in at $69.72, decreasing 5.8 percent over 12 months.

Despite increasing, Manhattan’s vacancy still outperformed the country’s average of 18.3 percent during the same period. At a national level, the office vacancy spiked by 160 basis points year-over-year in April and grew by 30 basis points year-to-date.