Textile Building snags top law firm as first tenant after $350M revamp

Published

12 months ago

November 27, 2023

admin

The rolling-thunder procession of late-in-the-year commercial leases that we predicted a few weeks ago is under way in earnest.

In the largest Midtown South location of 2023, global litigation firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan signed for 132,000 square feet at 295 Fifth Ave.

The law firm will move from 51 Madison Ave. where it had roughly the same amount of space.

Known as the Textile Building for its one-time apparel-making role, 295 Fifth Ave. fills the entire east blockfront between West 30th and 31st streets.

Owners Tribeca Investment Group (TIG), PGIM Real Estate and Meadow Partners spent $350 million to redevelop the century-old, 700,000 square-foot property for 21st Century use. Quinn Emanuel is the first tenant to sign up since the repositioning.

The remake overseen by Studios Architecture includes a new, two-story penthouse, a first floor courtyard, several terraces and hospitality-focused amenities.

Realty Check reported earlier that asking rents would run from $95 a square foot at the base to $135 psf in the penthouse.

The law firm will have floors 8-10 in whats now a 19-story building.

TIG principal Elliott Ingerman called 295 Fifth a special asset positioned for long-term success. Quinn Emanuel New York managing partners Andrew Rossman and Jennifer Barrett termed it in a statement a stunning redevelopment of a historic building in the flourishing Nomad nabe that has long been our professional home.

The firm has over 300 lawyers in the city.

Mary Ann Tighe, part of the landlords CBRE leasing team, said the deal affirms a larger trend in Midtown South. As technology firms dialed back their leasing, the gaps being filled by traditional industries that realize upgraded buildings bolster their initiatives to attract and retain talent.

CBREs Lewis Miller, Greg Maurer-Hollaender and Cara Chayet repped the tenant. The CBRE landlord team included Tighe, David Hollander and Peter Turchin.

The deal comes only days since we reported that Spanish financial firm BBVA took 75,000 square feet at Two Manhattan West, nearly doubling its previous presence on Sixth Avenue.

Environment

Trump picks Liberty Energy CEO and Oklo board member Chris Wright as Energy secretary

Published

2 hours ago

November 16, 2024

admin

Trump picks Liberty Energy CEO and Oklo board member Chris Wright as Energy secretary

US President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with House Republicans at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Washington, DC on November 13, 2024.

Allison Robbert | AFP | Getty Images

President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday selected Liberty Energy CEO Chris Wright to serve as the next energy secretary of the United States.

Liberty Energy is an oilfield services company headquartered in Denver with a $2.7 billion market capitalization. The company’s stock gained nearly 9% on Nov. 6 after Trump won the U.S. presidential election, but its shares have since pulled back.

Wright serves on the board of Oklo, a nuclear power startup backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman that is developing micro reactors.

Wright will also serve on Trump’s Council of National Energy, the president-elect said Saturday. The council will be led by Trump’s pick for Interior Secretary, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.

Wright has denied that climate change presents a global crisis that needs to be addressed through a transition away from fossil fuels.

“There is no climate crisis and we’re not in the midst of an energy transition either,” Wright said in a video posted on his LinkedIn page last year. “Humans and all complex life on earth is simply impossible without carbon dioxide. Hence the term carbon pollution is outrageous.”

“There is no such thing as clean energy or dirty energy,” Wright said. “All energy sources have impacts on the world both positive and negative.”

Trump described Wright as a “leading technologist and entrepreneur in the energy sector.”

“He has worked in Nuclear, Solar, Geothermal, and Oil and Gas,” the president-elect said in a statement Saturday.

“Most significantly, Chris was one of the pioneers who helped launch the American Shale Revolution that fueled American Energy Independence, and transformed the Global Energy Markets and Geopolitics,” Trump said.

Trump has vowed to increase fossil fuel production to reduce energy costs, though analysts and some oil executives have said the president has little influence on oil and natural gas output in the U.S.

The U.S. has produced more crude oil than any other country in history, including Russia and Saudi Arabia, since 2018, according to the Energy Information Administration.