SL Green: SL Green's Summit observatory sets one-day sales record as tourism falters

If on-again, off-again, on-again tariffs against foreign countries are roiling the city's tourism industry, the owner of popular skyscraper attraction Summit 1 Vanderbilt isn't seeing it.SL Green Realty Corp., which owns the observation area on the 73rd-story of Grand Central Terminal-adjacent tower 1 Vanderbilt, says the four-year-old offering set a one-day sales record last week of $500,000 in tickets, said company CEO Marc Holliday on an earnings call Thursday afternoon. Holliday returned to that topic later in the call, which was focused on the company's performance in the first quarter of 2025, adding that foreign tourists typically make up about a third of all visitors to the attraction atop the 1,401-foot-tall spire at 45 E. 42nd St., though he conceded that percentage was based on pre-global-trade-war attendance. He also added that some people have logged a half-dozen Summit visits themselves. "I'd just like to say, in uncertain times, SL Green shines," Holliday said.The unexpectedly strong demand for Summit tickets wasn't the only instance of the so-far, so-good attitude of executives on the call, which came amid mounting global unrest and growing predictions of a recession.Indeed, company Leasing Director Steven Durels shared that at the beginning of April, before President Donald Trump first announced his sweeping tariffs, SL Green had 62 leasing deals in its pipeline, and it currently has 64, even as four tenants canceled plans. "So point being, we haven't seen a slowdown yet," he said.Some of the numbers reported for the January-to-March period by the real estate investment trust, which is the city's largest office landlord, do show that SL Green is in a worse position in some ways now versus a year ago.Indeed, the company experienced a net loss of 30 cents a share in the first quarter, as compared with a net gain of 20 cents a share a year ago.And funds from operations, a useful gauge of the health of buildings, came in at $1.40 a share, a significant drop from the $3.07 per share reported for the first quarter of 2024. But the $1.40 figure beat the general expectations of Wall Street analysts, who expected the decline to be even greater.SL Green executives seem bullish on the office market, even as remote work trends endure and layoffs are a threat. Highlighted deals from the quarter included the firm's completion of the acquisition of 500 Park Ave. from Morgan Stanley for $130 million. And that Midtown office tower is now 100% leased, executives said on the call.The company will spend $20 million to upgrade No. 500's plaza, lobby and amenities, Holliday said, which should boost asking rents by $15 per square foot annually.Similarly, since the start of the year, SL Green has paid PGIM Real Estate $15 million for its 50% stake in 100 Park Ave., giving SL Green total control of the office site, which is 97% leased, executives added.Overall, the company signed 45 Manhattan office leases in the first quarter, covering about 600,000 square feet, and says it's still on track to complete about 2 million in deals by the end of 2025.And investors seemed to like the rosy scenario, sending the company's stock price up slightly Thursday to close at around $52 a share, though it remains well below its $68 price at n the start of 2025.The company is also working on developing a Summit in Paris; it expects to lease a site by 2026 and open the high-elevation attraction in 2027, Holliday added. "To me, that's right around the corner because there's so much to do," he said.