Broad St. digs for insurer CNA

Lois Weiss

BETWEEN THE BRICKS

Insurance giant CNA has found a new home downtown, where it will move to about 80,000 square feet at 125 Broad St. from larger offices at 40 Wall St.

Sources tell us the nearly 20-year deal includes the seventh and eighth floors of 37,404 square feet apiece, plus other space. The floors are owned as a condominium by Mack-Cali Realty Trust, which bought it from another real estate investment trust, SL Green Realty Corp., in 2007 for $188.37 million.

The modern white building of 1.3 million square feet sits between Water and South streets, and the column-free floors have harbor and East River views.

CNA was represented by broker Alan R. Grossman of ARG Realty Consultants along with Steve Siegel, Bruce Surrey and Christopher Mansfield of CB Richard Ellis. A CBRE team of Mark Ravesloot, Peter Turchin and Gerry Miovski worked for Mack-Cali.

CBRE confirmed they handled the deal but declined comment. Grossman could not be reached by press time.

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We've discovered that L&L Holdings has emerged as a stalking-horse buyer for 1107 Broadway, which is being sold in a public auction on June 29. The former Yitzchak Tessler property got caught up in the Lehman bankruptcy and is being foreclosed on.

According to marketing material sent to prospective bidders, the L&L bid is $161.5 million, but another buyer would have to top $164.5 million to cover a breakup fee and transfer costs. No financing is allowed and potential bidders must be qualified two days earlier.

The 16-story building overlooking Madison Square Park has 321,200 square feet and the possibility of adding stories. It is not subject to landmarking and can be used as offices, retail, residential or a hotel.

A sale would also include the adjacent five-story brownstone at 7 W. 24th St. with 8,000 square feet that is fully occupied and net leased to 2027. The building at 1107 has been vacant for five years. A Citibank branch in the retail space has a lease that expires in 2014.

L&L is a natural buyer as its 200 Fifth Ave. landmark is right across West 24th Street from 1107 Broadway. Together, they were known as the Toy Buildings and are connected via an old skybridge that belongs to 1107.

Adam Spies, Douglas Harmon, Joshua King and Kevin Donner of Eastdil Secured are representing the Lehman estate. Harmon was the last broker on the Toy Building deals in 2007 at the top of the market.

Eastdil has also just arranged a recapitalization of L&L's 195 Broadway, opposite the Fulton Transit Center, with Beacon Capital Partners. The brokers and L&L did not return calls for comment.

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The newly minted 510 Madison Ave. has snared another tenant at a glitzy rent. The World Gold Council, the voice for the gold industry, has signed a 10-year, 11,500-square-foot lease for the entire ninth floor. The asking rent was $105 a foot.

Zev Holzman and Paul Revson of Studley represented the tenant, which will join SAC Capital, Jay Goldman, Senator Investments, Chieftain Capital, Valinor Management and Africa Global Communications in the Boston Properties-owned Macklowe development.

The WGC space will "mirror" its London headquarters designed by British architect Peldon Rose, who also is responsible for Google's European digs.

The 510 Madison deal more than doubles the size of its current city headquar ters at 424 Madison, where the WGC has 4,948 square feet. That space has now been sub leased to account ing firm Rifkin & Lubcher, which will take over after WGC moves out later this summer.

Arthur Spitalnik and Howard Rosenbloom of Kaufman Leasing represented the CPAs. Boston Properties was represented by Paul Amrich and Fernando Urrutia of CBRE, along with Adam Frazier in-house at BP. lois@betweenthebricks.com