DLA Piper and Ascot expand at $140–$150 a foot as Midtown splits

The recovery runs on supply, not broad demand, as this publication has argued, and the latest leases at Mitsui Fudosan America's 1251 Avenue of the Americas show what that looks like: two full floors at $140 to $150 a foot. DLA Piper expanded by 41,600 square feet on the entire 29th floor under an 8.5-year term, lifting its footprint to 210,000 square feet in the 54-story tower between West 49th and West 50th streets. Ascot Group signed a 12-year extension for its 44,100 square feet on the 43rd floor, converting a sublease into a direct lease, according to Commercial Observer.

At $150 a foot for Ascot and $140 for DLA Piper's new floor, those are premium numbers, not distress concessions, in a market where tenants still hold leverage in most buildings. The landlord's ability to get an 8.5-year term from DLA Piper and a 12-year term from Ascot at those prices places 1251 on the winning side of the office split.

The recent lease sheet extends the pattern. LGT Capital Partners signed a 41,600-square-foot lease in May and Trust Company of the West expanded to 80,200 square feet in November 2025, giving the tower four sizable leases in roughly nine months—a pace most Midtown landlords would take. Newmark is exclusive leasing agent for the tower; CBRE represented both tenants, with separate teams on each assignment.

The arithmetic tracks the leasing: Ascot's 44,100 square feet at $150 a foot annualizes to roughly $6.6 million; DLA Piper's 41,600 square feet at $140 comes to about $5.8 million. Credit-backed income at that level is what investors capitalize when they underwrite a tower, and it gives Mitsui a base from which to hold the building's value through the rest of the cycle.

Ascot's sublease-to-direct conversion matters most to that underwriting, because a sublease is a contingent claim while a direct 12-year lease is a corporate obligation. Moving the tenancy onto the landlord's balance sheet gives Mitsui long-dated income that supports a higher underwriting value. The leasing at 1251 shows demand concentrating in the assets that can still command $150 a foot.