Comcast Signs Mega-Lease at 5 Times Square

Comcast has signed a mega-lease for nearly 100,000 square feet in the Ernst & Young building at 5 Times Square, according to sources familiar with the transaction.

The cable company will relocate in May 2009 to the ninth, 10th and 11th floors of the 1.1-million-square-foot tower, owned by the Yonkers-based AVR Realty, from Brookfield Properties' Grace Building at 1114 Avenue of the Americas.

This is just the latest bad news for Brookfield, which has 4.2 million square feet at its World Financial Center leased out to Merrill Lynch. Bank of America, which recently bought out Merrill, has just moved into fabulous new headquarters at One Bryant Park, and the fate of Merrill's space downtown remains murky.

Ernst & Young had previously occupied the 95,441 square feet, but gave up the space in a private deal with the landlord. Comcast, whose lease lasts until May 2022, was lured to the new digs for efficiency reasons, and because of the newer build-outs.

CBRE's Steve Siegel and Rob Stillman represented the tenant in the transaction. The landlord was represented internally. CBRE would not comment for this story, and AVR did not immediately respond to a request for comment; but an outside tenant rep estimated the rent would be in the mid-$70s a square foot.