Law firm Shearman & Sterling has been headquartered at 599 Lexington Avenue for three decades, and it now plans to stay around for two more — after making big upgrades to the office space.
Shearman and landlord Boston Properties announced Thursday that the tenant has renewed its 338,000-square-foot lease at the Midtown East building for 20 more years. The lease was originally set to expire in 2022.
“Renewing our lease enables us to design a space that will leverage technology [and] incorporate wellness and sustainability elements to provide a working environment that enables more collaboration and sparks even greater creativity and efficiencies for our people,” Shearman & Sterling’s Americas managing partner Lisa Brill said in a press release.
The global law firm occupies 13 floors at the 47-story building, which Boston Properties constructed in 1986. The renovations are set to begin this summer and wrap up by the end of 2023.
The property, which contains an entry to the Lexington Avenue/51st Street subway station, is part of Boston Properties’ 4.5 million-square-foot midtown campus, which includes nearby 601 Lexington Avenue and 399 Park Avenue.
At 601 Lexington, also known as the Citigroup Center, the landlord recently brought in a 10,000-square-foot food hall from Anna Castellani, the creator of Downtown Brooklyn’s 27,000-square-foot DeKalb Market Hall.
In The Real Deal’s law firm ranking in 2018, Shearman & Sterling landed in 6th place by volume of real estate loan deals closed, with six buyer-side deals totalling $1.9 billion. The company notes that its 850-plus lawyers come from 60 countries and speak more than 60 languages.