Comcast Inks 141K SF Lease At 1540 Broadway

Comcast is changing channels.

The advertising sales and technology division of the telecommunications and media giant signed a 141,000-square-foot lease at BDT & MSD Partners’ 1540 Broadway in Times Square. The deal comes as the owner and property manager GFP Real Estate are pouring $150 million into renovating the 907,000-square-foot tower, formerly known as the Bertelsmann Building.

Comcast will occupy floors 27 through 31 of the 44-story tower, a source with knowledge of the deal said. The move is a consolidation and relocation from Shorenstein Properties’ 1407 Broadway and BGRE’s 55 West 46th Street. The asking rent was in the low $90s per square foot, the source said.

Savills’ Gabe Marans and Maxine Rosen represented Comcast in the deal, which was first reported in CBRE’s July Manhattan office report. JLL’s Frank Doyle and Clark Finney represented the landlord. None of the brokers responded to requests for comment.

Jeffrey Gural’s firm in January launched a sweeping overhaul of the building aimed at attracting tenants seeking large blocks of newly renovated space. The redevelopment includes more than 45,000 square feet of amenities on the building’s eighth and 36th floors.

BDT & MSD took control of the building in December from Edge Fund Advisors and HSBC, according to property records. The office condominium portion of the 44-story tower was refinanced in 2022 with a $590 million package backed by Michael Dell’s MSD Partners, now part of BDT & MSD Partners, and affiliates of Apollo Global Management and Monarch Alternative Capital.

Located at the intersection of Broadway and Seventh Avenue at the corner of West 45th Street, the building was developed by Bruce Eichner for the German media company Bertelsmann. Eichner and project partner VMS Development developed the property into the teeth of the early 1990s recession and the project ended up in bankruptcy.

Bertlesmann ended up buying a stake in the property. Edge, run by founders Mark Keller and Gary Siegel, acquired the office floors along with HSBC Alternative Investments in 2010. Other tenants include the jewelry company Pandora, pharmaceuticals developer Schrodinger, and tech company Adobe.

Vornado Realty Trust owns the 162,000-square foot retail portion of the building.

Representatives for Comcast and the landlord did not immediately respond to requests for comment.