Leasing continues at Rockefeller Center.

Despite the bankruptcy filing this month, at Rockefeller Center, it's business as usual. The capital program is nearing completion to bring the 1930s structures to state-of-the - art technology, while the leasing program continues, including the announcement of the new Herman's store, the model-flacked Fashion Care and other office transactions.

According to Alan L. Stein, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Rockefeller Center, they've shaken hands on the principal business terms with a new name retailer for the Associated Press building corner at 50th Street. "Their plan is to get them open before Christmas but they've presented an ambitious construction plan," he said.

There is also a new restaurant coming to the former Bank Haloapim space on 49th Street between the Today Show and the Center's garage.

"Other office leases are continuing and we look forward to a very good year," Stein said.

The recent Herman's deal is particularly notable, said Stein. "What made Herman's important is not the name or importance, but their new management has decided to make it a flagship," he explained, and that will consist of a new marketing presentation. "That was essential to our doing the transaction."

Herman's will take over 15,000 square feet of a former Chemical Bank space on the north side of 30 Rock, and will have retailing on the main floor as well as the underground levels. The new store will be designed to have the atmosphere of a private health club combined with the kinetic excitement of the latest multimedia effects.

Herman's and the new AP retailer will both extend underground into the white-marbled halls of the remodeled indoor concourse. Additionally, they coincide with a master plan of turning those institutional streets into the upper reaches of the urban mall and capture pedestrian traffic that in the past may not have realized the existence or extent of the vast subterranean shopping network.

Stein said the capital program has permitted them to exhibit the Center as a product that meets the needs of companies into the future. "We are as up-to-date as any building in New York City," he said. "Without having done that we would have had a major problem."

Right now the largest block of contiguous office space is a portion of the former Societe General space in 50 Rock on the 11th through 14th floors. "We leased a significant part but have remaining 80,500 feet in four floors," said Stein. The space looks out over parts of the Channel Garden as well as the skating rink, and has a wonderful vantage point for the Christmas Tree lighting. "It has great light and air and flexibility for various types of design," added Stein. Additionally, an internal staircase connects two of the floors and the 14th floor has extraordinary ceiling heights.

Stein is asking $38 a square foot, and while they have had several conversations with prospective tenants, no lease is out.

At One Rockefeller Center is space currently occupied by Lazard Freres, which is moving to 30 Rock when construction is complete in the early Fall. Stein is marketing their present space, with the largest contiguous block consisting of 48,000 square feet on three floors, for which they are asking rent in the upper thirties. "Those floors can be made available to a single tenant or on a full-floor basis," said Stein. There is also other space available.