Los Angeles-based United Talent Agency, whose clients include A-list entertainers and is also a partner in representing LeBron James, is taking its talents to the Empire State Building.
UTA signed a lease for 100,948 square feet on the landmark skyscraper’s 32nd through 35th floors. The move marks an expansion and consolidation from 81,000 square feet at three other Manhattan locations. A source said the asking rent was $96 per square foot.
The powerhouse agency’s Manhattan office includes its Filmed Entertainment, Creators, News, Publishing, Theater, Music, Speakers, Sports and Brand Advisory businesses. Its clients include actors Timothée Chalamet and Kirsten Dunst; musicians Bad Bunny, Lizzo and Christina Aguilera; and athletes such as James through a partnership with Klutch Sports Group.
UTA chief operating officer Bob Roback called the Empire State Building move “a reflection of UTA’s continued growth and our long-term commitment to New York as a global epicenter of culture, creativity and business.
“As we’ve expanded our integrated talent representation and brand advisory business, New York has become an increasingly important center for our clients and our company,” Roback said. “This new office reflects the scale of our ambitions and positions us to continue building the future of talent, media, sports and brand representation.”
The UTA deal is the latest coup for King Kong’s favorite skyscraper, where landlord Empire State Realty Trust spent more than a billion dollars to rescue the once obsolescent landmark from the dinosaur age.
UTA was represented in lease negotiations by JLL’s Mitchell Konsker, Benjamin Bass and Harrison Potter. Bass said, “UTA wanted a space that gives them room to grow and an environment where people genuinely want to work. The Empire State Building provides an incredible range of amenities and flexible floor plates that can adapt as they evolve.”
Publicly traded ESRT’s massive investment in the tower since 2005 helped lure office marquee-name tenants LinkedIn, Shutterstock, Booking Holdings and JCDecaux. The building was 96.1% leased according to ESRT’s 1Q report even before the UTA coup.
Yet, the tower’s obvious and growing success was lost on the New York Times. A hilariously off-the-wall story in 2021 bafflingly claimed, “The future of the world’s most famous skyscraper is in doubt.”
In the UTA lease, ESRT was represented by Jordan Berger, Shanae Ursini and Kerry Lavelle in-house and by a Newmark team of Scott Klau, Erik Harris, Neil Rubin, Brent Ozarowski, Zachary Weil and Cole Gendels.
ESRT also just signed an Instacart lease for 26,134 square feet at 111 W. 33d St., bringing the address to 100% leased. Meanwhile, Infinium Wall Systems took 30,017 square feet of office and retail space at ESRT’s 1359 Broadway.
ESRT’s 8 million square-foot portfolio has only two large blocks available — 60,000 square feet on the ninth and 10th floors of 501 Seventh Ave. with private outdoor terraces, and 80,000 square feet on the fifth and sixth floors of One Grand Central Plaza.