KeyBank signs 15-year renewal and expansion at Elecor Tower

KeyBank has signed a 15-year renewal and expansion at Elecor Properties' 1301 Avenue of the Americas, growing its Manhattan footprint to 112,924 square feet across the entire 35th, 36th and 37th floors plus portions of the 28th and 38th. The expansion adds 15,292 square feet, according to Elecor, which did not disclose asking rent; CBRE's second-quarter report put Midtown's average at $86.18 a square foot.

The tower is a good proxy for tenant demand at the top of the market: Piper Sandler signed a 140,000-square-foot lease there in August 2025, while the property was still under Paramount Group's ownership, and Rithm Capital then acquired Paramount's 16-building portfolio and rebranded the former REIT as Elecor in April 2026. KeyBank is now committing for 15 years on terms that JLL, which represented the bank, described as establishing a true New York City headquarters with prominent signage.

The clearing price is not a single number. KeyBank is not stretching for space; it is consolidating around an existing Plaza District presence, keeping its teams in one elevator bank while it upgrades the workplace — a different demand profile from a new entrant taking speculative space, and the one trophy landlords are underwriting.

The transaction fits the Midtown split we tracked last week, when DLA Piper and Ascot expanded at $140–$150 a foot while the broader market worked through vacancy. The structure — 15 years, five floors, a headquarters label — puts the deal firmly in the trophy column. Whether Elecor can repeat that pattern across the portfolio it inherited will determine whether the rebranding starts to look like a strategy rather than a new name on the old letterhead.