Century-plus-old law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher has decided to stay put in its longtime home near Times Square in a renewal deal that CoStar data shows is the second-largest office transaction in New York this year.
Willkie, founded in 1888, signed a 20-year lease spanning about 315,000 square feet at 787 Seventh Ave. between 51st and 52nd streets, the law firm said Friday in a statement, adding it will begin a “full-scale” renovation. Willkie said it has over 600 attorneys at the 50-story, 1.8 million-square-foot office tower.
The law firm has been at the property, owned by Los Angeles-based real estate firm CommonWealth Partners, for the past 25 years, Willkie said. The decision to stay put comes after “conducting a thorough evaluation” of space needs going forward, according to the firm.
“Midtown Manhattan continues to be one of the most vibrant, convenient and accessible locations in New York City,” New York Office Managing Partner Rosalind Fahey Kruse said in the statement. The space overhaul will be designed with a “collaborative culture in mind,” she said.
Sidley Austin, also a law firm, is the largest tenant in the building with 344,000 square feet occupied, CoStar data shows.
In the largest office transaction in New York so far this year, Bloomberg renewed its agreement for 946,815 square feet at 731 Lexington Ave. after it was set to expire in 2029, building owner and real estate investment trust Alexander’s said in May. Developer Vornado Realty Trust, the property's developer and manager, owns a 32.4% stake in Alexander’s.
Willkie’s lease renewal comes as New York’s downbeat office market may be “turning a corner” even as “a recovery to pre-pandemic conditions is not anticipated anytime soon,” according to a CoStar analysis. New York's overall availability rate has “stabilized” over the past year, compared with increases still seen during that time in the United States and among the top 15 largest office markets in the country, according to the study.
For the Record
Newmark's Neil Goldmacher, Brian Goldman, Moshe Sukenik and Douglas Levine represented Willkie. CBRE's Howard Fiddle, Evan Haskell, Brett Shannon and Courtney Hughson represented the landlord.