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515 Madison Avenue Pursues LEED-EB, Inks Trio of Tenants

June 03, 2009  |  from greenbuildingsNYC

Thanks, perhaps, to a $5 million facelift and LEED-EBOM application, 515 Madison Avenue (at East 53rd Street) has been a recent bright spot in an otherwise unspectacular Manhattan commercial real estate market thus far in 2009. Recently, three deals were finalized at the 42-story tower: (1) a 22,300-square-foot, 15-year lease at $65 per square foot on the building's fourth and fifth floors for the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; (2) a 9100-square-foot, 10-year lease for communications company Kreab & Gavin Anderson Worldwide, which will take the entire 18th floor at $65 per square foot; and (3) 1900 square feet to Hamilton Investment Funds over five years for half of the tower's 27th floor at $67 per square foot. Newmark Knight Frank chair Jeffrey Gural owns the neo-classical 515 Madison, which was built in 1931 and originally designed by J.E.R. Carpenter. Gural retained Rosen Johnson Architects in connection with the building's renovation project, which included an expansion and upgrades to the building's lobby. The porte-cochere (carriage door) Madison Avenue entrance was redesigned to emphasize the building's signage by allowing natural light to penetrate its canopy. In addition to its pending LEED-EB application, the building is also pursuing LEED-CI certification for its 13th and 14th floors, where green design features include recycled-content carpets, lighting occupancy sensors, and dual-flush toilets. Gural plans on renovating additional floors in the tower to LEED-CI specifications moving forward. 515 Madison joins a number of other Plaza District office buildings that are seeking LEED certification, including 510 Madison and 545 Madison, both of which we've discussed previously here at gbNYC.

Images: 
515 Madison Avenue Entrance
515 Madison Avenue Lobby
515 Madison Avenue Sign

Filed: Green-Construction