TPRO Takes Two Floors at 500 7th Ave.

NEW YORK CITY-Travel-services firm TPRO has taken a 25,000-sf sublease at 500 Seventh Ave. The move from 1500 Broadway is the result of the firm’s earlier acquisition of competitor Allied Tours combined with continuing instability in the travel industry.

Julien J. Studley Inc. senior managing director Daniel Horowitz represented TPRO in the deal. The sublessor, The New York Times, was represented by executive managing director Richard Bernstein and associate Leonard Gazda of Insignia/ESG Inc. Representatives from Insignia and Studley were unavailable by press time, but published asking rents for direct space on the 17-story building’s upper floors are $36 per sf.

TPRO will occupy two floors at 500 Seventh Ave., which are leased to the Times digital division. The firm hired Studley to either negotiate a renewal at 1500 Broadway or find a new space.

The scales tipped toward relocation when TPRO bought Allied tours. Further erosion of the travel industry following Sept. 11–commission cuts and online booking had already sent brick-and-mortar travel firms into a tailspin–also contributed to the firm’s decision to lease less-expensive offices.

“The New York Times had been trying to dispose of this sublease space for some time, creating an ideal environment for a favorable transaction,” says Studley’s Horowitz.

Studley secured a cash allowance from the sublessor, allowing the second floor to be built out for the client at no cost to TPRO.