Viacom’s New 1.6 MSF Office Lease Now Manhattan's Largest
SL Green, which has been extremely busy in the Times Square submarket of Manhattan during the past year, has just notched another record: The signing of what the firm calls Manhattan’s largest office lease, which keeps media giant Viacom in the 1515 Broadway building through 2031.
By Nicholas Ziegler, News Editor
SL Green, which has been extremely busy in the Times Square submarket of Manhattan during the past year, has just notched another record: The signing of what the firm calls Manhattan’s largest office lease — save a few sale-leaseback transactions — that keeps media giant Viacom in the 1515 Broadway building through 2031. The lease currently covers 1.4 million square feet of space, but Viacom is expected to increase that footprint to 1.6 million square feet after an expansion in 2020.
“Times Square is one of the world’s best-known locations, which makes it the perfect home for a high-profile company such as Viacom,” Marc Holliday, CEO of SL Green, said. “The company has been a corporate anchor in Times Square for over 20 years and the extraordinary building branding opportunity provided in this lease will allow Viacom to increase its corporate visibility to millions of New York City visitors.”
The lease resigning comes on the heels of a $775 million first-mortgage refinancing of the building through Bank of China. The new, seven-year loan replaced the existing $447 million vehicle, and SL Green expects to use the cash “to fund this transaction and for general corporate purposes,” according to a press release.
SL Green has owned 1515 Broadway since 2002, when the company — along with Canadian investment firm SITQ — acquired the property for $480 million. In November 2005, the joint venture recapitalized the building and obtained a $625 million, three-year loan. At that time, the property was appraised at $1 billion.
New York City’s largest office landlord has been having a busy few months. In early February, SL Green completed the acquisition of eight assets in Manhattan’s Midtown and Upper East Side submarkets for $416 million. And in January, the firm spent $252.5 million on 10 E. 53rd Street, a 390,000-square-foot, 37-story office tower that serves as the headquarters of publishing company Harper Collins.
“We have had a great partnership with SL Green and have been proud to help lead the revitalization of the Times Square neighborhood for two decades,” Philippe Dauman, president & CEO of Viacom, said in a statement. “We could not be more pleased to extend our commitment to New York City and Times Square well into the future.”
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