Downtown Market Tightens, Draws Firms

NEW YORK CITY-”Downtown is like another city,” according to ULI’s Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2007 issued Thursday, with companies that can no longer afford the ever rising cost of locating in Midtown or that can’t find the space.

“Downtown has been undervalued for many years and a lot of tenants are starting to see the value of the area,” says Andrew Peretz of Cushman & Wakefield. Peretz, who recently helped Levitz Furniture relocate its headquarters to downtown, says he has seen increased activity in the area, especially as midtown is increasingly cost prohibitive. The continuing drive to lower Manhattan is illustrated almost weekly in deals.

GVA Williams recently closed two lease transactions at 75 Broad St, totaling about 21,000 sf. The new tenants, Nike Communications and News Broadcast Network, both left the Midtown area to expand further south. Nike Communications, a public relations firm, had been housed in Midtwon for more than 20 years; most recently at 35 E. 21 St. it now leases 11,027 sf. News Broadcast Network, a company that makes video news releases, had two Midtown locations, one at 451 Park Ave. and the other at 220 Fifth Ave. The company will combine locations in the 10,400 sf it leased and the space will be its national headquarters. GVA could not be reached by press time.