BXP is several years away from delivering its trophy Midtown office tower at 343 Madison Avenue, but tenants are lining up to seize significant chunks of space.
Law firm McDermott Will & Schulte is in discussions to take 150,000 square feet at the development, the Commercial Observer reported. The deal has not been finalized yet and could still fall apart.
The law firm — subject to a recent merger — would occupy six floors at the 930,000-square-foot development. BXP chair Owen Thomas hinted at the lease several months ago, saying on an earnings call that the company was “negotiating a letter of intent for another 16 percent of the building.”
It doesn’t appear as if the former entities that make up the combined law firm are poised to leave the spaces they already occupy, as 150,000 square feet is not enough to contain them. The former Schulte Roth & Zabel occupies 284,000 square feet at SL Green’s 919 Third Avenue, while the former McDermott Will & Emery occupies 200,000 square feet at One Vanderbilt.
Terms of the potential lease were not disclosed. Newmark is representing the tenant in negotiations, while CBRE is representing the landlord.
News of the pending lease comes months after global investment and insurance firm Starr signed a roughly 275,000-square-foot lease at 343 Madison Avenue, the 46-story office tower rising above Grand Central Terminal. The lease represented a big win for BXP, which started construction without a significant amount of the space pre-leased.
The development has been fraught with financial challenges. In September, BXP lowered its dividend by 30 percent to help pay for the $2 billion office tower, searching for $50 million in quarterly savings.
The development site of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s former headquarters suffered another blow last summer when Norges Bank backed out of a plan to be a 45 percent partner in the project.
But BXP soldiered on and is aiming to complete the 844-foot-tall, all-electric, net-zero building by the end of 2029.
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