New Management, Leasing Contracts for Five Malkin Buildings

NEW YORK CITY-A recent court decision allowing Wien & Malkin to terminate Helmsley-Spear’s management and leasing contracts at several Manhattan office properties is just the thin end of the wedge, sources close to the situation tell GlobeSt.com. More shakeups are in store, including a changing of the guard at the Empire State Building.

Meanwhile, Malkin has split up management and leasing duties at five now-unencumbered properties among the city’s three key firms, with Cushman & Wakefield getting the lion’s share of the business. C&W will manage and handle leasing at the 435,000-sf Fisk Building, 250 W. 57th St., and the two-building, one-million-sf International Toy Center, located at 200 Fifth Ave. and 1107 Broadway.

Insignia/ESG snagged the leasing and management contracts for 501 Seventh Ave., a 430,578-sf office tower at the northeast corner of 37th St. Newmark & Co. will take the reins at the Lincoln Building, a 55-story, 1,116,680-sf office property at 60 E. 42nd St.

But sources close to the situation say there are another four or five buildings in the labyrinthine Peter Malkin portfolio that are still under Helmsley-Spear contracts and remain hung up in litigation. Malkin will terminate those agreements at the first available opportunity, sources tell GlobeSt.com.

Of course, the biggest prize will be the management and leasing contracts on the Empire State Building, which Malkin acquired from Donald Trump earlier this year for $57.5 million. In April, Leona Helmsley sued Malkin over management of the landmark skyscraper. Insiders say it is only a matter of time before Malkin gains full control of the asset and reassigns the leasing and management contracts.

Sources say there was never any question of Malkin’s keeping leasing and management of the five newly assigned properties in the family by awarding the contracts to Tony Malkin’s W&M properties. The prospect of such a move would likely have prolonged what was already protracted litigation. Malkin’s attorneys did not return calls.

C&W credits its success in winning both the Fisk and Toy Center assignments to the capacity of its Strategic Agency Services unit for handling large, complicated properties. “We were selected because there’s a depth and breadth to this organization and the management assignment is fairly complex,” Cushman president of US operations Bruce Mosler tells GlobeSt.com. Mosler adds that, in the case of the Toy Center, he will be taking a hands-on role. “I made a personal commitment to set strategy and help procure tenants,” he says.

The team handling the three buildings includes Arthur Bocchi, senior managing director of Cushman’s SAS group; Howard Simson, senior director; Mark Lauzon, managing director; Peter Berti, director; Frank Freda, senior managing director; and Joseph Lagano, managing director.

Insignia’s Scott Pudalov, Alan Wildes, and Peter Turchin will spearhead the leasing initiative for 501 Seventh Ave., while Gregg Popkin and Wayne Taub will oversee property management activities.

“There’s an enormous opportunity for us going in,” Pudalov tells GlobeSt.com. “An extensive lobby renovation has been earmarked to start very quickly. We’re fortunate to have caught the wave at the right moment because the ownership is making a substantial reinvestment to make this building state of the art.”

Currently less than 50% occupied, Pudalov says that in addition to the planned capital improvement program, “We plan to meet and exceed prospective tenants’ wishes to make a very compelling argument to lease space at 501 Seventh Ave.”

Leasing at the Lincoln Building, which is nearing completion of a total renovation, will continue to be handled by Kevin J. Driscoll and John Sinon, who have left Helmsley-Spear to join Newmark.