NYC Towers to Undergo Ambitious Upgrades

By Scott Baltic

500-512 Seventh Ave. in New York City

The two office towers at 500-512 Seventh Ave. in Manhattan will undergo a “major capital improvements program,” it was announced by Cushman & Wakefield, which will be ownership’s exclusive agent for the buildings. The towers total 1.1 million square feet and sit not far from the massive Hudson Yards development.

Cushman’s Bruce Mosler, Ethan Silverstein, Mitchell Arkin, Haley Fisher and Whitney Anderson will lead the property’s leasing and marketing efforts. Cushman & Wakefield Asset Services personnel Joseph Manasseri, Sal Ariganello, Sheila Mahaney, Alan Cohen, Teresa Ginyard and Alice Chen will handle property management, lease administration and client accounting services.

Cushman & Wakefield is supplanting Newmark Knight Frank, according to information provided to Commercial Property Executive by Yardi Matrix, which also indicates that the property’s owner is The Moinian Group. The 16-story Class B building at 500 Seventh was completed in 1921, and the 45-story Class A building at 512 Seventh was completed in 1930.

The ambitious capital improvement effort comes as the towers have 400,000 square feet (36 percent) of space available for lease. The improvements program includes infrastructure and cosmetic upgrades to the elevators, HVAC system and retail facade, with the lobbies to be completely updated with contemporary glass and metal finishes. Work on the upgrades, which were designed by Spivak Architects, is expected to begin by the third quarter.

Wide Floorplates and Good Neighbors

In a prepared statement, Cushman’s Mosler cited the buildings’ wide floorplates and location near Hudson Yards, in addition to the pending improvements, as likely to attract tenants. The location, on Seventh Avenue between West 37th and West 38th streets, is also close to Penn Station, the 33rd Street PATH station at Herald Square, Grand Central Terminal and the Port Authority.

In one of the biggest recent deals at Hudson Yards, BlackRock agreed to lease 850,000 square feet at the 58-story, 2.9-million-square-foot 50 Hudson Yards tower for its global headquarters.

Image courtesy of Yardi Matrix