Robert Khodadadian | Commercial Observer

Bloomberg signed an 11-year renewal on its 946,815-square-foot office at 731 Lexington Avenue, a Midtown office tower owned by the Alexander’s real estate investment trust.

The current lease expires in 2029 and this gives Bloomberg a place in the building, where it has leased space since at least 2004, until 2040, according to Vornado Realty Trust (VNO), which manages and leases the property.

Vornado declined to disclose the asking rent or names of any brokers on the deal. Average asking rent in Midtown in the first quarter of 2024 was $82.84 per square foot, according to a report from CBRE.

Bloomberg first reported the story.

“731 Lexington remains a best-in-class Midtown tower, impeccable in its design by César and Rafael Pelli, and light years ahead of the curve technologically,” Steven Roth, chairman and CEO of both Vornado and Alexander’s, said in a statement. “Bloomberg’s decision to remain is a testament to the rare and enduring quality of the tower as well as to our successful decades-long partnership.”

Bloomberg uses the tower as a workspace for about 7,000 of its 12,000 employees and has expanded its footprint dramatically since it moved into the building. The business news network — founded by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg — started out occupying 697,000 square feet when construction was completed in 2004, according to Vornado.

Vornado declined to provide additional information.

Known unofficially as Bloomberg Tower, the 1.3 million-square-foot, 56-story building between East 58th and 59th streets has a residential section called One Beacon Court and sits where the Alexander’s department store once stood.

Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.

Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. The way he sees it, there are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller at the right time.