Non-profit stretches out at 111 E59th St.

Nonprofit group the Cardiovascular Research Association just signed a lease to expand its presence in 111 East 59th Street.

CRA, which already has 12,150 s/f on the 11th floor of the building, took the entire 12th floor and part of the 13th floor, an expansion that totals 21,500 s/f. The lease will allow the association to relocate offices it currently has at Delmonico Plaza and consolidate its operations under one roof.

Cushman & Wakefield's John Picco, Heather Sloan, and Gerri Odell represented the landlord in the transaction and the Staubach Company's Robert Taylor represented the tenant. Taylor is also handling the sublease of space CRA will be vacating at Delmonico Plaza.

Developed, owned, and also partially occupied by Lighthouse International, a nonprofit group dedicated to helping those with vision impairments, 111 East 59th Street admits only not for profit groups and has consequently been granted exemption from certain taxes. Asking rents in the building are in the $40 per s/f range but the tax savings can knock off as much as a whopping $15 per s/f from that figure.

Lighthouse has occupied the site since 1904 and built the roughly 170,000 s/f building in 1994.

Rumors have abounded for weeks that L&L Acquisitions was interested in purchasing 522 Fifth Avenue, the 600,000 s/f class A building that owners, Stellar Management and the Rockpoint Group, recently put up for sale through Eastdil's Doug Harmon.

Not true, says a source familiar with L&L's dealings who explained that the rumor got started because David Levinson, one of the firm's owners, acts as a broker for Bear Stearns who is currently said to be looking for a large block of space in which to expand past the confines of their 1.2 million s/f HQ building at 383 Madison Avenue.

"They're not even bidding on the property," the source indicated.

Management and technology consulting services firm BearingPoint is said to be in talks to take 50,000 s/f at Brookfield Properties' 3 World Financial Center. Jones Lang LaSalle is representing the firm in the transaction.