According to a release issued Tuesday afternoon by CBRE, Xinhua has leased 18,600 square feet, the entire 44^th floor, which it will use as both offices and television studios. The deal brings the occupancy of 1540 Broadway up to 84 percent, which seems to bode well for the commercial market generally. Howard Fiddle, vice chairman of CBRE, who ranked among the all-star leasing team, described Xinhua's new home in glowing terms.

"The 44^th floor is a special floor," he told The Observer. "A big section of it is double height. It's one of the most dramatic pieces of office space in Manhattan."

Mr. Fiddle said he's excited to be leasing to Xinhua, which was represented in the deal by Jones Lang LaSalle, and which Mr. Fiddle said is a "very, very recognizable name" in China and around the world. He expects that the company, which will mark its territory with an antenna fastened to the building's roof, will use the space to broadcast content back to China, rather than to American television.

The building itself presented a minor obstacle to the deal. The 45^th floor, which isn't used as office space, houses the machine room. It's noisy, and Xinhua studios need silence.

"I know more about soundproofing than I ever thought I would," Mr. Fiddle said.

walden@observer.com