Big-Name Tenants Toy With Signing in L&L's 200 Fifth

Human hubbub may soon be returning to 200 Fifth Avenue, the so-called Toy Building that once housed dozens of toy makers, but that, aside from four retail tenants, now stands empty.

Landlord L&L Holding Company, which just got legal permission to evict Cipriani, has had a number of prominent visitors lately, according to David Berkey, the firm’s executive vice president.

“Some of the major users mentioned in your July 15 article have been through the building on more than one occasion and expressed definitive interest in joining Grey Global,” Mr. Berkey said, referring to the article in which we listed the handful of firms looking for more than 150,000 square feet in today’s Manhattan market: NBC Universal; HSBC Bank; law firms Fitzpatrick Cella Harper & Scinto, Paul Weiss Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe; and banks Allianz, Natixis, and WestLB.

Grey Global is the advertising firm that claimed 370,000 of 200 Fifth’s 800,000 square feet last year; it has yet to move in.

Mr. Berkey said that the building, which is undergoing a $130 million overhaul that includes 17 new elevators, new bathrooms and more than 600 new windows, will be ready for occupancy by next year.

The asking rent is around $85 a square foot.

drubinstein@observer.com