Midtown Sixth Avenue landlords have invested billions of dollars in the past three years to lure tenants who demand state-of-the-art infrastructure and amenities.
The upgrades helped to propel the leasing of more than 3.6 million square feet in the corridor between West 41st Street and Central Park West over the past 12 months, according to CBRE.
The latest property to ride the wave is RXR’s 1211 Sixth Ave. between West 47th and 48th streets, where major tenants include News Corp’s Dow Jones and New York Post, as well as Fox News.
The media companies have 1.2 million square feet in the 2 million square-foot tower which also is home to units of Disney and Wells Fargo.
Sixth Avenue’s strength is bested only by Park Avenue. As per CBRE, three towers or stakes in them traded for healthy numbers in the past year.
Availability in the Sixth Avenue/Rockefeller Center submarket of 44.2 million square feet fell to little more than 10% in the third quarter compared with 15% in 3Q of 2024.
But law firm Ropes & Gray’s planned exit from 1211 Sixth for RXR’s 1285 Sixth a few blocks north in 2028 will open up a rare, 700,000 square-foot block at 1211 Sixth.
So the Scott Rechler-led developer is spending $367 million to make the 1970s-vintage tower more competitive with its neighbors on the avenue. (RXR acquired a 49% stake in the building from Ivanhoe Cambridge back in January and secured a $1.45 billion recapitalization in October.)
The transformation will bring new, glass-fronted retail arcades on the 47th and 48th street sides, shown here for the first time.
New amenities now under construction include a boardroom, flexible suites and lounges for business, entertaining and wellness, a golf simulator, a speakeasy for tenants, a new retail arcade and a lobby cafe.
A tenants’ lounge will boast an elevated coffee bar, a seating area, and grab-and-go food options.
A spa-inspired wellness suite is to feature infrared saunas, red-light therapy, meditation rooms, massage pods, and recovery stations.
Also planned are a boardroom for executive meetings and private dining; a flexible lounge with golf simulators; and an intimate “speakeasy” for private gatherings, tastings, and exclusive events.
A completion date hasn’t been announced.
Meanwhile, RXR announced the recap of 75 Rockefeller Plaza which it owns with Farallon Capital Management. It’s the latest move in a total $5 billion recap of 9 million square feet in RXR’s Manhattan portfolio totaling $5 billion in the past two years.
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