Retailer Giorgio Armani scored a few points in its legal fight to retain its prime 760 Madison Ave. store at East 63rd Street.
SL Green Realty Corp. intends to demolish and redevelop the site for a boutique hotel or residential condominium building.
On Aug. 5, Manhattan state court Judge Charles Ramos ordered Armani to pay the $3.5 million annual rent due under the lease that runs to 2025 —and not the $10.05 million that SL Green had requested, as per the evidence from Jeffrey Roseman of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank.
Armani’s expert, Susan Kurland of CBRE, explained that Armani was entitled to pay a mere $1.1 million in rent because the planned redevelopment had turned it into a short-term tenant — and therefore should trigger a “pop-up store discount.”
However, Ramos called redevelopment “at most theoretical and in its infancy.”
The jurist declined to order Armani to post an “undertaking,” or bond, of $83 million for “missing the market and lost opportunity damages,” saying it was “excessive and speculative.” Instead, the amount was set at $750,000 toward lawyer fees should SL Green later prevail in its contention that Armani should not receive an injunction.
The judge has already granted a temporary restraining order so Armani can remain during the litigation.
The parties will be filing more papers and meeting with the judge again at the end of October.
SL Green and Armani declined to comment.
New York City has finally filed “in rem” actions (meaning that they’re against an item of property rather than a person) challenging tax classes 1 and 2 in Manhattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens, which will lead to the foreclosure of hundreds — if not thousands — of properties owned by tax scofflaws.
Building and unit owners can pay or sign an installment agreement until Sept. 22 in Manhattan, Sept. 29 in The Bronx, Oct. 6 in Brooklyn, and Oct. 13 in Queens.
If no deal is made, owners have 20 days from the above dates to file answers in court.
Along with homes, the lists include multifamily buildings, co-ops and condos as well as Housing Development Fund companies that have been ignoring their financial obligations for years.
The list for each borough can be viewed at the appropriate city Finance Department office.
A Finance Dept. spokeswoman has not responded to requests for comment or further information.
Advertising giant Publicis is again expanding at 1675 Broadway. It will now envelop 24,195 square feet of the 23rd floor and will have a total of 600,000 square feet. This is roughly 75 percent of the 750,000-square-foot building.
The asking rent for the new floor was $75 per square foot.
Publicis is represented by Joseph Thanhauser and Gordon Ogden of Byrnam Wood while Robert Steinman at Rudin Management represents the building.
In February, Post columnist Steve Cuozzo first revealed that Publicis added 100,000 square feet to total 580,000 square feet and renewed it all through the year 2031.
A Left Coast company is pulling up stakes and moving to the Big Apple. Pipedrive, which offers customer relationship Internet-based sales and sales pipeline management software, has signed an 8,000-square-foot lease at 460 Park Ave. South.
The new space encompasses the entire fifth floor and had an asking rent in the $60s per square foot.
Greg Kraut and Justin Grabell of Avison Young represented Pipedrive in the transaction.
Building owner the Moinian Group, was represented in-house by Gregg Weiser and Ariel Moinian.
Since Pipedrive operates on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, Chief Executive Officer Steve Oriola felt that NYC digs would better serve its customers.
The Chetrit Group has sold two buildings targeted for residential condominiums at 416-422 W. 52nd St. to Gaia Real Estate for $156.5 million, documents show. Gaia also owns the Montrose and units at the Corinthian.
In June of 2014, the Real Deal reported that Chetrit sold the adjacent St. Vincent’s nursing facility for $41.4 million to JVL Property Group, Okada Acquisitions and Zion Enterprises, which completed a residential conversion — and in April of 2015, was selling units for prices of up to $1,600 a square foot.