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As seen in
February 7, 2001
BEST FREE - Rent for Bill's midtown
office soars by 150G
by by
KENNETH R. BAZINET and ERIC HERMAN
Former President Clinton and the
owner of a luxurious midtown office building cut a deal yesterday
- for $150,000 more than they discussed last week, officials
said.
The proposed lease for the 56th floor of the Carnegie
Hall Tower soared from the $650,000 figure released last week
to nearly $800,000.
A source close to the deal said the lease was signed yesterday
by Rockrose Development, the building's owner, and has been
sent to the General Services Administration for review.
But one congressman said he intends to block it. "If they sign
the lease right now, it would be $811,000. … I've seen
it in writing," said Rep. Ernest Istook (R-Okla.).
He dismissed Clinton's offer to have his charitable foundation
pay $300,000 a year toward the rent, saying it wasn't enough.
"If you're still asking taxpayers to pay half a million a year…
it's exorbitant," Istook fumed. "I don't see any hurry because
I think people want to look at the specifics of this lease."
The proposed rent far exceeds what the government pays for other
ex-Presidents' offices. Ronald Reagan's California space is
the most expensive, at $285,000 a year.
Last week, Clinton offered to cough up $300,000 of the rent
from his foundation because he would be doing some of the foundation's
work out of Manhattan. At the time, the rent was expected to
be $650,000, and by paying nearly half the rent, the government
would spend about the same amount it pays for Reagan's offices.
Yesterday, Clinton spokesman Jake Siewert said that despite
the increase in the rent, the foundation's portion would remain
at $300,000.
Rockrose Development had been asking for rents between $90 and
$95 per square foot, but Clinton's interest in the building
has driven asking prices as high as $98 a square foot, according
to one broker.
Siewert denied that the rent exceeded $800,000. He said the
terms of Clinton's lease call for an annual base rent of $711,000,
a yearly public security building fee of $42,000 and a General
Services Administration management fee of #36,000 - for a total
of $789,000.
There also might be a big tab to get the office ready for occupation.
Broker Gordon Ogden said the cost of prepping a high-end office
could be as much as $100 per square foot. With Clinton renting
8,300 square feet, that could be another $830,000.
Manhattan real estate executives described the proposed rent
as typical - even cheap - for an elite building like Carnegie
Hall Tower.
"That's market [rate] for a high floor
in the General Motors building or the Seagrams building," said
James Meiskin, president of Plymouth Partners, a real estate
brokerage. "There are three or four buildings in New York that
have trophy status."
But with average midtown office rents per
square foot in the $60s, Clinton might have been able to find
cheaper space. "There's a lot of 8,000-foot units in midtown
available for less," Ogden said.
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