Studley secures 22,437 s/f relocation for Tag Associates at 810 Seventh Avenue

After 30 years in Rockefeller Center, TAG Associates, LLC a multifamily office and portfolio management services firm, is relocating its corporate headquarters. The firm has signed a 10-year, 22,437 s/f lease comprising the entire 7th floor at SL Green Realty Corp.'s 810 Seventh Ave., in a transaction brokered by global commercial real estate services firm, Studley. TAG is presently subletting space from Time Warner at 75 Rockefeller Plaza and expects to relocate to the 41-story, 694,000 s/f office tower in the second quarter of 2014. Studley Executive vice president, Daniel Horowitz, senior managing director, Jeffrey Peck and executive managing director, Joseph Messina represented the tenant in the long-term leasing transaction. Larry Swiger, SVP, and Jeremy Bier, VP, of SL Green Realty Corp. represented the landlord in-house, along with Barry Zeller, executive VP at Cushman & Wakefield. According to Mr. Horowitz, an industry veteran who is well known for his work with other prominent financial firms such as Ares Capital, Blue Ridge Capital and GIC, TAG emphasized the need to find a real estate solution that would provide the company attractive, modern and efficient offices, but bypass the significant capital cost and time investment that typically comes with leasing raw space that needs to be designed and built out. "Tenants are increasingly focusing on finding existing built spaces and re-adapting them rather than building out new ones from the ground up," he said, noting that TAG's space was previously occupied by a division of Fox and currently has an efficient mixture of perimeter offices and open landscape design. Horowitz added "the value proposition in this transaction was the in-place infrastructure of the space, complimented by the flexible capital contribution secured from the landlord". The construction allowance negotiated by Studley will be utilized by TAG to reconfigure and upgrade portions of the space, install a partially redundant HVAC system and purchase new furniture. In addition, Mr. Peck noted "The combination of lower occupancy costs and flexibility to accommodate TAG's operational requirements was critical. It was important for the look and feel of the space to reflect TAG's business objectives, which will include an elegant client-facing front of the house and more functional support areas." "The fact that a premier financial institution such as TAG chose 810 Seventh Avenue is a testament to the quality of this asset" said Steven Durels, Executive Vice President and Director of Leasing and Real Property at SL Green Realty Corp. "The fact that a premier financial institution such as TAG chose 810 Seventh Avenue is a testament to the quality of this asset" said Steven Durels, Executive Vice President and Director of Leasing and Real Property at SL Green Realty Corp., who added that the 695,000-square-foot, 41-story property, "has been the beneficiary of substantially accelerated leasing activity following the recent completion of a $13 million capital improvement program featuring a new lobby, new elevator cabs, common corridors and bathrooms. Formed in 1983, TAG is a SEC-registered investment advisor and has 70 employees, including senior relationship managers, investment management professionals, accountants, bookkeepers and administrators. The company currently has more than $7 billion of assets under management.