BY GUS DELAPORTE

Sports research and statistical service provider Elias Sports Bureau has signed a seven-year renewal for its 7,400-square-foot portion of the 21st floor at 500 Fifth Avenue.

Elias Sports Bureau, founded in 1913, has been a tenant at 500 Fifth Avenue for more than 20 years. The company is the official statistician for all major U.S. sports leagues including Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League. Elias is also the leading source of statistics for both ESPN and CBS Sports.

Located at the corner of 42nd Street overlooking Bryant Park, 500 Fifth Avenue currently boasts 92 percent occupancy.

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BY AL BARBARINO

Houston-based global law firm Baker Botts has signed a 10-year, 104,000-square-foot renewal for its space at Tishman Speyer’s 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

The move comes on the same day that the firm, the fourth-biggest adviser on North American oil and natural gas deals this year, announced it will expand to Brazil as Petroleo Brasileiro SA – its first Latin America office in almost 50 years.

The company, founded in 1840, has more than 700 lawyers operating in 15 offices worldwide and has been working with Brazilian clients for at least seven years.

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BY BILLY GRAY

The Los Angeles-based clothing chain Splendid contributed to the building retail momentum in Cobble Hill by signing a 1,100-square-foot lease at 142 Court Street.

The store joins the national giants J. Crew, Nordstrom Rack and Sephora as big name tenants who’ve recently settled in the neighborhood. Asking rent in the transaction exceeded $100 per square foot. Founded in 2002, Splendid has 22 U.S. locations–including a Manhattan outpost–and one in Canada. This is the first Brooklyn branch.

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BY BARRY LEPATNER

New York City’s luxury retail market is absolutely booming. And in today’s environment of social and sophisticated interactive online media, physical environments play a pivotal role in validating the consumer’s perception of any brand. This is particularly the case for luxury goods retailers because it is in their environments that the customer experience and brand value are realized.

Yet the act of planning these physical environments is often plagued by compressed project schedules and ongoing design changes during construction; this leads to runaway costs, missed opening dates or both.

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