There is no hell for sinful buildings, just reincarnation. Thirty West 21^st Street has transformed itself from home of `80s debauchery to desirable office space. 

Three major leases have been signed in the building that was once Danceteria. Appco Group U.S., a major marketing company, has signed a five-year lease for 5,150 square feet, or the entire sixth floor.

"Thirty West 21st Street is a great location for a fast-growing, entrepreneurial organization with global presence like Appco Group U.S.," said company CEO Kerry Johnstone. 

Much has changed for these words to be spoken of the building where Madonna once passed out on the floor, including a condo conversion upstairs, and the addition of private, landscaped gardens, concierge service and a renovated lobby.

Nora Stats and Daniel Creighton of Tarter Stats O'Toole represented the landlord, Beck Street Capital. Thomas Jacobs of Rice and Associates represented the tenant.

In addition, New York Stone has signed a five-year lease for the ground floor and basement in the building. Joel Isaacs and David Baker with Isaacs and Company represented the landlord.

Watermill Institutional Trading has also signed a 5,150-square-foot lease for the top floor of the building. The team of Ms. Stats and Mr. Creighton also represented the landlord, and Andrew Weiss, of Signature Partners, represented Watermill.

lkusisto@observer.com

"I think it’s performed better than anybody had expected, particularly on the residential and rental side. Now it’s doing extremely well and we’re very optimistic about the future."

Does he plan on making any more New York acquisitions?

"I think Equity Residential has a very significant position in the New York market," Mr. Zell said. "It’s done very well for EQR and I imagine that EQR will continue to pursue opportunities as they arise."

That's nearly double the $67 million that SL Green paid for the 292,000-square-foot building in 2004. The company plans to invest the $118 million in net proceeds towards 125 Park Avenue, which it agreed to buy from Shorenstein Properties for $330 million, The Real Deal reported.

The sale comes just as the building has scored a new tenant, Forest  Management, which signed a 17,684-square-foot lease for 11 years, according to today's Commercial Observer. Since SL Green took over, occupancy in the building has increased to 99 percent, up from 86.

The sale is expected to close this fall. 

lkusisto@observer.com

Employment agency Forrest Solutions is getting a professional makeover of its own. 

Forrest Solutions has signed an 11-year lease for 17,684 square feet at 19 West 44th Street, The Commercial Observer has learned. The asking rent for the ninth-floor space was $45 a square foot.

The company, which prides itself on having access to a network of Manhattan employers, will move just a few blocks from its current midtown east location at 10 East 40th Street

That isn't the only change the company has made lately, as it announced in July that it would begin providing "on-site outsourcing" for companies needing paralegal services, document management and mailroom assistance. 

Ashley Gee, Meghan Holzhauer, David Kaufman represented the landlord, SL Green, in-house. Forrest Solutions was represented by Paul Haskin of CB Richard Ellis.

lkusisto@observer.com

The family is in contract to buy the 340,000-square-foot 50 West 23^rd Street, an office loft building right next to Home Depot, for $129.5 million from Joe Monian's Moinian Group.

“We gave them a hard deposit last Friday,” said Asher Abehsera, of Two Trees Management. “It was an off-market deal.”

Mr. Abehsera said this is the firm's first office building acquisition in Manhattan, though its footprint there will soon grow much larger. The Walentases have begun construction on a striking, Enrique Norten-designed, 900-unit rental apartment building at 54th Street and 11th Avenue. 

“We toured it maybe a month, month-and-a-half ago,” Mr. Abehsera said of 50 West 23rd Street. “As it turns out, a friend of mine I grew up with in L.A. works for Joe [Moinian], and that’s how we put the deal together.”

The acquisition is scheduled to close within the month. Mr. Moinian’s spokesperson declined to comment. 

drubinstein@observer.com

The company will leave 800,000 square feet at 4 Times Square behind to anchor the new building, formerly known as the Freedom Tower, after its completion in 2013. The move will likely happen in 2014. Two Condé Nast executives told The Times that the company would likely lease one million square feet in the building, or almost 40 percent of the space available. The company notified employees of the plans, which are still in "active negotiatons," in a memo this morning. (Update: Memo here.)

The Observer reported that Condé was looking at space downtown in May. "We're paying below market rent here, and at some point, it goes to market," one executive at the company explained. "That's a huge jump. When we moved to Times Square, market rent was nothing like what it will be when our lease expires." Condé Nast's lease doesn't expire until 2019.

"Si is focused on steering resources toward our content," said another Condé Nast executive. "He likes to put resources toward quality products, not toward non-essential things like rent."

Related: Si It Isn't So! Condé Considers Move Downtown

CB Richard Ellis is representing IDB Group subsidiaries Property and Building Corporation Limited, a holding company, and Koor Industries Limited, a holding company, which together own the building. The current tenant, HSBC Bank, which has occupied the space since 1999 (the building was constructed in 1984), plans to shrink its office space into the building's base.

Craig Reicher, vice chairman of CBRE New York Tri-State, called the office space his firm will market "A-plus," "high-quality" and "boutique." Both Mr. Reicher and Ehud Elizur, executive vice president of PBC-Koor USA, praised the view from the tower floors, which takes in Bryant Park, Rockefeller Center and the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. "If you're going to meet high-net-worth clients, you'd rather do it in a building like this and not in a Class B building without any view," Mr. Elizur said.

The building's owners have hired Studios Architecture, which has also done projects at 200 Fifth Avenue and 731 Lexington Avenue, to renovate the building. Changes will include an upgrade of the lobby, a set of new elevators and an installation of new electromechanical systems. The work, Mr. Elizur said, will begin in September and, if all goes according to plan, will end in March.

"It'll really transform the entrance to the building," Mr. Elizur said. "The lobby is nice, but it's from 1984."

Representing ownership will be, in addition to Mr. Reicher, CBRE vice chairman Howard Fiddle; first vice presidents James Ackerson, Sinclair Li and Zachary Freeman; and senior financial analyst Rima Shpolyansky.

walden@observer.com

Continuing to assert its dominance in commercial leasing, CB Richard Ellis had Michael Laginestra, Scott Gottlieb and Andrew Sussman represent the tenant, according to a release issued last night. Steven Durels, executive vice president and director of leasing and real property for SL Green, represented SL Green, which owns the building. SL Green is the city's biggest office landlord, with approximately 22,012,215 square feet to its name. For its part, 555 West 57^th encompasses about a million square feet.

CBS will presumably have easy access to medical attention, schooling and cars. Other tenants in the building include St. Luke's Roosevelt, Greater New York Hospital Association, City University of New York and BMW of Manhattan.

It's been a busy week. According to the release, recently renewed leases by Pepsico and Citigroup outside of the city (in Westchester and Fairfield counties, respectively) combine with the CBS deal to bring the total leased square feet in SL Green buildings to over 610,000 "in the past few days."

"Large tenants are choosing to lock in favorable occupancy costs with financially stable landlords," Mr. Durels said.

walden@observer.com

Now located at 280 Park Avenue, between 48th and 49th streets, the NFL will move to 345 Park Avenue, between 51st and 52nd, according to a release. Starting in the third quarter of next year, it will occupy about 175,000 square feet in a 44-story tower owned by the Rudin family, which owns about 10 million square feet of office space in the city.

The leased space breaks down thusly: three full floors (5, 6 and 7) comprise about 150,000 square feet of office space, while the rest, approximately 30,000 square feet, is "below-grade," for "various operational and administrative departments."

Franklin Speyer and Lou D'Avanzo of Cushman & Wakefield teamed with Peter Hennessy and Daoud Awad of Jones Lang LaSalle to represent the NFL. Tom Keating of Rudin Management Company repped Rudin.

Bill Rudin, CEO and vice chairman of Rudin Management Company, called the NFL "the most respected and successful league in all of professional sport."

Eric Grubman, executive vice president of NFL ventures and business operations, said the new space "will enable us to be more efficient."

walden@observer.com

And he's bringing 12 of his dad's former employees with him.

The younger Macklowe, who famously dissed his struggling dad in the pages of the Wall Street Journal in 2008, was named chairman and CEO of Harry's company, Macklowe Properties, in June of that year. But that move apparently didn't give him the independence he so craved.

Today, Billy's publicist at Rubenstein sent out the following release.

WILLIAM (BILLY) MACKLOWE OFFICIALLY LAUNCHES
HIS OWN COMPANY; ANNOUNCES SUCCESSFUL
REFINANCING OF 400 MADISON AVENUE AND 610 BROADWAY

New York, NY... Real estate developer and investor William S. (Billy) Macklowe has officially launched his new venture, William Macklowe Company (WMC).

Mr. Macklowe and a team of a dozen professionals that joined him from his former company, Macklowe Properties, have established WMC's headquarters on the entire 28th floor at 126 East 56th Street, where they will focus on acquisitions, strategic lending, real estate correlated investments and portfolio acquisitions, both in and outside of New York City. Additionally, WMC will continue management of its own portfolio and will pursue select third-party management assignments.

In an auspicious start to his new business, Mr. Macklowe also announced that he has successfully refinanced two portfolio properties - - the 22-story office building at 400 Madison
Avenue (with $66.5 million in refinancing from Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and Malkin Strategic Capital) and the landmark office/retail building at 610 Broadway in Soho (with a $43 million first mortgage from Eurohypo).
(more)
"We're excited about our business plan and the broad platform we've developed," stated the 42-year-old Macklowe, the company's Chief Executive Officer. "It allows us to be opportunistic in our investment strategy, continuing to use our strengths in both traditional office and residential deals and complex transactions where our broad and unique experience will add significant value."

"Not only will our buildings will be run and operated in the Macklowe tradition, which has long been recognized for exemplifying the highest management standards of our industry, but we are also looking forward to joining with institutional and joint venture partners in new acquisitions and development opportunities where the creative approaches, extensive building experience and diverse capabilities of our platform can help achieve a project's full potential."

WMC's nucleus of seasoned real estate specialists includes Chief Operating Officer Jason Grebin, Managing Director of Finance & Acquisitions Noah Leonard, Executive Vice President of Management Services Jim Migliore and Senior Vice President of Commercial Leasing Ken Dillon.

Respected for his broad real estate expertise, particularly in development, acquisitions, leasing and finance, the younger Mr. Macklowe joined his father, Harry, at Macklowe Properties in 1993. He assumed the presidency of that company in 2002 and took over as Chairman & CEO in 2008. He left Macklowe Properties in July of 2010 to launch WMC.
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drubinstein@observer.com