Financial firm takes 35,000 s/f.

In a three-part transaction, National Financial Partners Corp., has signed a 35,000 s/f ten-year lease for its national headquarters on the entire 11th floor of 787 Seventh Avenue, a 1.75-million property owned by AXA Financial.

The deal allows NFP to remain in the building and expand by 12,000 s/f.

The transaction also involved two further steps, an assignment and an extension. NFP assigned its existing lease which ran for six more years (until 2010) on the 49th floor of the building to New Mountain Capital LLC; and, in turn, New Mountain's lease was extended by the Landlord an additional three years, until 2013.

CB Richard Ellis' Robert Alexander, Howard Fiddle, Joan Meixner, and Jeremy Lincoln acted for the building's ownership in arranging the new lease, assignment and extension. Larry Zuckerman and Elliot Klein of Grubb & Ellis represented NFP. Ken Ruderman, Michael Goldman and Key Otomo of Studley represented New Mountain Capital.

"This was a complicated deal contingent on the assignment, but one that was well worth the effort," said Mr. Zuckerman, "because it allows the tenant to remain at its existing address."