Times Square developer's new digs offer birds eye view of site.

Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC) announced that two new tenants have signed leases for the 38th floor of The New York Times Building at 620 Eighth Avenue near Times Square.

Samoo Architecture P.C., the design arm of Samoo Architects & Engineers, one of the largest architectural and engineering firms in Seoul, Korea, will lease 5,300 s/f to open its first office in the United States.

Also, SJP Properties will lease 3,500 s/f to serve as a marketing center for its 1.1-million-square-foot office tower at 11 Times Square, which is commencing construction on the southeast corner of 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue.

With the signings, 85% of Forest City's portion of the Times building is now leased, leaving only three floors of the 52-story building available through FCRC.

Bruce Ratner, President and CEO of Forest City Ratner Companies, said, "I'm extremely pleased that Samoo has chosen to make our soon-to-open New York Times Building the home for its first office in the United States. With Japanese retailer MUJI opening its flagship store in America in our lobby, the building is truly an international attraction. We are also proud that SJP Properties has selected the Times Building to open their marketing center for what promises to be a wonderful new addition to the neighborhood just one block north of the Times Building."

"Our New York Office is extremely pleased to practice in one of the most architecturally significant, technologically advanced building not only in New York City, but in the world," said Soon Woo Kwon, president of Samoo Architecture P.C. "We look forward to bringing in our international architectural team to this building as well as the neighborhood."

"This is a great location to market our great new building," said Steven J. Pozycki, chairman and CEO of SJP Properties. "With the Times Building almost fully leased, there is a huge need for commercial space in Midtown and we're confident we will attract high-quality tenants to 11 Times Square. We look forward to joining this vital neighborhood."

SJP's office in the New York Times Building will offer unobstructed views of the 11 Times Square construction site one block to the north. SJP's commercial building will be an architecturally distinguished, environmentally advanced 1.1 million-square-foot office tower.

SJP purchased the property, the last remaining development site within the Times Square Development Project, from the Milstein family in the summer of 2006. Construction will begin in May.