Law Firm Nears Deal to Anchor 570 Fifth Ave Development
The site of a planned 1.1-million-square-foot office development that began excavation early this year is reportedly close to securing an anchor tenant. Located at 570 Fifth Avenue, the planned 567-foot-tall tower with 637,312 square feet of Class A office space is being constructed by Extell Development. News reports recently announced a nearing deal with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett to lease 700,000 square feet to serve as the building’s anchor tenant. The global law firm is currently located at 425 Lexington Avenue, having renewed its lease for 595,799 square feet in 2013, press at the time indicating that the 20-year deal had an estimated value of $766 million. It is unclear if the possible lease will result in a relocation or an expansion by Simpson, et al., which shed some of its footprint at its current location in 2017 with a nearly 60,000-square-foot sublease to fellow law firm Holwell Shuster & Goldberg. Earlier this year, Extell’s project attracted Ingka Investments, which reportedly acquired a one-third stake in 570 Fifth Avenue for its nearly 80,000-square-foot retail store to located on the first two cellar levels with an entrance at the corner of Fifth Avenue and West 46th Street. The IKEA franchisee’s stake was estimated to cost between $300 million and $500 million according to NY Yimby’s June article. Extell initially proposed a ground-up structure with a maximum architectural height of 1,100 feet and 78 floors, requesting a zoning text amendment and special permits for either a 1.455 million-square-foot office development, or as an alternative, a 1.462 million square-foot mixed-use hotel and residential development according to the Environmental Assessment Statement (EAS) filed in 2021. Subsequently the developer decided to downsize to a 33-story office and retail development, and in March 2025 purchased 576 Fifth Avenue to complete the near decade long quest to create the 16-parcel assemblage that spans the entire 5th Avenue block-front between West 46th and 47th Street. Construction is expected to be completed in 2028 at a cost of over $1 billion.
Source: https://commercialobserver.com/2025/09/simpson-thacher-lease-extell-570-fifth-avenue/