NEW YORK CITY-From the Flatiron District to Midtown West, a recent flurry of office leasing is a testament to the diversity—and value—of the area’s existing building stock, says owner/manager ABS Partners Real Estate LLC. Over the last several weeks, the firm has brought the 180,000-square-foot office building at 20 W. 22nd St. and the 17-story office at 29 W. 38th St. to nearly 100% occupancy, a sign that creative and high-tech tenants are still finding space in the tight Midtown South submarket.
“We had a tough time in the beginning, but people rented and rented and the area got hotter and hotter,” says John L. Gols, executive managing director at ABS Partners, who tells GlobeSt.com that the firm acquired 20 W. 22nd St. in the early 2000s and repositioned it in order to attract new companies. “It was always a great location because it is right off Fifth Avenue,” he says, noting that the renovations included a new lobby, elevators, windows, bathrooms, floors and lighting. “It just took off.”
New deals here include a 3,634-square-foot lease for digital media firm Martini Media; a 1,349-square-foot lease for advertising agency Air Paris New York, Inc.; a 1,158-square-foot lease for TSS Transportation Systems Inc; 2,407 square feet for mobile Internet company Bango; a 2,131 square-foot lease for music firm Jingle Punks; and Startracks Photo Inc. inking a deal for 1,252 square feet. The companies join existing tenants such as Real Estate Weekly, Platt Byard Dovell White, LLP, Calument Photographic Inc. and Broadsheet Productions LLC.
Gols, along with a team of associate managing director Jason Fein and managing director Hector Rodriguez, completed the transactions. Asking rents ranged from $37 per square foot for mid-level space to $43 per square foot for high floors with skyline views. "Being in an iconic area and right behind the Flatiron Building, people like to be there," Rodriguez says. "Right down the block, you have Ladies Mile, Fifth Avenue shopping and choice restaurants, coupled with renovations this is what attracts people to the building."
Further up Fifth, ABS Partners also signed three new leases and two expansion transactions at the Signature Bank-anchored 29 W. 38th St.. Berry Jewelry Co. signed an expansion for 13,000 square feet to occupy the top two floors here, a deal handled by Gols and associate Adam Maxson.
In addition, a diverse roster of tenants have inked deals at the 105,000-square-foot office building, including a 6,500-square-foot lease for M-E Engineers; a 4,326-square-foot lease for Aien Capital and Aien Technology; and a 3,600-square-foot lease for media firm Buzz Logic. Approximately 4,436 square feet of ground retail space is available here before the building is 100% occupied, Gols says.
Maxson says the leases are driven by low vacancy rates downtown. "It is driving these companies to go farther north to get loft-style spaces, where they can get wood floors and exposed ceilings and more of a creative feel at a lower rent than let's say SoHo," he says. Rents range from the low to high $30s per square foot.
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