Convene Leases Its Largest Space To Date at 530 Fifth Ave.

NEW YORK CITY—Convene has signed a lease with RXR Realty for 116,000 square feet, occupying four floors, offering flexible workspace at 530 Fifth Ave. in Midtown.

Convene also recently opened 28,232 square feet of meeting and amenity space on the 31st and 32nd floors of 75 Rockefeller Plaza. RXR completed a $150 million renovation of the property. The real estate owner, manager and developer has a 99-year, triple-net lease in the 34-floor, historic building that was originally constructed for the Standard Oil Company in 1947.

These are Convene’s third and fourth locations at RXR properties. It will provide meeting and event services, available to building tenants as well as outside companies.

“As we look for new services and amenities to offer tenants in the RXR portfolio, we’ll continue to partner with Convene in new and unique ways,” says Scott Rechler, chairman and CEO of RXR Realty.

“RXR has been an incredible partner to us, and our growth within their portfolio at 530 Fifth Ave. and 75 Rockefeller Plaza is a testament to the breadth and depth of our relationship,” says Ryan Simonetti, CEO and co-founder of Convene.

In addition to office services, Convene is also making inroads in the flexible co-working space. Although WeWork is clearly the dominant player in that sector, poised to overtake JPMorgan Chase in becoming Manhattan’s largest office space occupier, competitors continue to expand.

Convene has leased property for flexible workspaces in Lower Manhattan at Cove Property Group’s 101 Greenwich St. and Brookfield’s One Liberty Plaza. In July, it secured $152 million in a Series D funding round to support its expansion of space and services. ArrowMark Partners led the funding round, backed by RXR Realty, Brookfield and the Durst Organization. Convene reports its total equity funding to date at $260 million.

Earlier this week, flexible workspace provider Knotel announced four new leases totaling 31,300 square feet in Midtown South. Knotel leased 20,000 square feet from the Moinian Group at 54 W. 22nd St., 147 W. 24th St. and 37 W. 17th St. The company also signed an 11,300 square-foot lease at Elijah Equities’ 307 Fifth Ave. Earlier this month, Knotel leased 19,563 square feet at Jack Resnick and Sons’ 250 Hudson St. The company has stated it has raised $100 million in funding.

Creative workspace provider Spaces also just announced signing a 110,989 square-foot lease at the Chrysler Building with Tishman Speyer and a lease with the Rockpoint Group for 33,192 square feet at 413 W. 14th St. Earlier this summer, it rented 103,321 square feet at 287 Park Ave. South.

Although losing its bid to lease at One World Trade Center, WeWork had announced it was seeking to raise funds at a $35 billion valuation.