Greg Hughes, chief financial officer for New York City's largest commercial landlord, SL Green, said this morning that Viacom, which has leases for 1.5 million square feet at 1515 Broadway, most of which expire in 2010, is likely to renew.

"We’re have ongoing negotiations with Viacom for what seems like five years now," Mr. Hughes said, while giving a presentation at the Merrill Lynch Global Real Estate Conference. "There is a renewal option that comes up that they have that they need to exercise in December of this year. I think if you talked to them they would tell you they like the building very much…"

"They’ll likely exercise their renewal and then there’ll be a spirited discussion over what fair market value reps," Mr.  read more »

Barclays, as part of its acquisition of some Lehman Brothers assets, will take Lehman's headquarters at 745 Seventh Avenue, according to a release issued today:

Barclays has also agreed to acquire Lehman Brothers New York Head Office at 745 Seventh Avenue and two data centres in New Jersey for close to their current market value, estimated at £0.8bn (US$1.5bn). The combined consideration totals some £1.0bn (US$1.75bn).

Greg Hughes, SL Green's chief financial officer, who is, as we write, giving a presentation at the Merrill Lynch Global Real Estate Conference, said the news was a good sign:

Now as we take stock of what happened over the weekend, between Lehman, between Merill, and between AIG, there’s between 5 and 6 million square feet of space that they occupy in midtown, another 6 million downtown, so we’re watching and trying to take stock of what’s going to happen there.

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Leading city office landlord SL Green announced today it had leased 121,441 square feet of its 100 Park Avenue to financial firm BDO Siedman. The lease, which starts in January, is for 15 years and brings the 825,815-square-foot tower at 40th Street to 80 percent occupancy, according to a Business Wire release (which touted the lease as the 15th biggest in Manhattan so far this year).

Howard Ecker of Howard Ecker & Company represented BDO Seidman in the deal, while Cushman & Wakefield’s Paul Glickman, Tara Stacom, Mitti Liebersohn, Alexander Chudnoff, Diana Biasotti and Jonathan Tootell repped SL Green.

ThoroughbredTimes.com -- our favorite horse racing rag -- is reporting that the state's selection of a vendor to convert the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens into a racino should be happening soon. Real soon.

That's because New York State's Division of Lottery has finally reviewed all three proposals and deemed all three viable.

The parties vying for the chance to remake the dilapidated racetrack include SL Green in partnership with Hard Rock Entertainment; Delaware North Companies with Saratoga Harness Racing; and Capital Play, in partnership with Mohegan Sun, Extell Development and Plainfield Asset Management.

Morgan Hook, a spokesman for the governor, told ThoroughbredTimes.com that Governor Paterson, the Senate majority leader, Dean Skelos, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver now "can begin to have discussions about which one will be best for the state.  read more »

Apple has applied for a building permit at 21 West 34th Street, listing plans for a two-story 19,000-square-foot retail structure on the site, owned by SL Green.

So will this be the next iStore?

Maybe, maybe not.  read more »

SL Green, Manhattan's biggest office landlord, will have its fourth quarter conference call with investors (and media) at 2 today. In a late-night release Monday, the publicly traded landlord touted a strong end to 2007.  read more »

SL Green, the city's largest office landlord, announced on Wednesday that it had closed on its $1.575 billion purchase of the two-tower office complex at 388-390 Greenwich Street. Citigroup, the seller in the deal, occupies the 2.6 million-square-foot towers completely and will remain there under a 13-year lease. The Canadian investment firm SITQ was a minority partner in the purchase.

The Observer broke the news of the deal earlier this month.  read more »

The $157 million sale of 470 Park Avenue South has popped up in public records, with the ever-active SL Green shedding yet another Class B property from its portfolio. The buyer, records show, is the insurance giant TIAA-CREF, which seems to have been a relatively inactive trader in the Manhattan real estate scene.  read more »

Stephen Green, the chairman of the city's largest office landlord SL Green, gave his thoughts about the 2009 mayoral race at an investor’s conference on Monday, in response to a question about how a new mayor might affect the city's business climate.

Mr. Green--whose brother, Mark Green, lost to Mayor Bloomberg in the 2001 general election--seemed to be optimistic about the Democratic field, which he has narrowed to two realistic contenders (at least six Democrats are said to be seriously considering a run).  read more »

For years, New York-based SL Green was something of an iconoclast among the city’s largest office landlords, playing around with millions of square feet of Class B office space to make its fortune.  read more »