Aaron Appel, vice chairman at JLL
NEW YORK CITY—The Vanbarton Group is converting 15 Laight St., the former home of the Tribeca Film Festival, into a boutique office building. Located where Tribeca, SoHo and Hudson Square converge, the area is considered prime downtown real state. Paramount Group is providing a $141 million loan to finance the construction.
The approximately 100,000-square-foot building has more than 300 feet of frontage along Laight and Varick streets and St. John's Lane. Vanbarton is planning a gut renovation of the existing structure, updating the building systems and adding a new architectural design by Gensler.
A Jones Lang LaSalle capital markets team led by Aaron Appel, Jonathan Schwartz, Max Herzog, Mark Fisher, Brian Buglione and Patrick Cotter handled the debt assignment. The brokerage firm asserts, when completed the property will offer state-of-the-art offices and ground floor retail.
“Strong demand for newly built or repositioned Class A office space in TriBeCa, SoHo, Hudson Square and surrounding areas is supported by tight vacancy rates and positive employment numbers,” says Appel. “The transformation of 15 Laight St. not only offers a potential tenant a high-end office experience in one of Manhattan's most sought-after areas, but also provides a rare opportunity for a tenant to potentially occupy an entire building or floor with direct elevator access, private lobby branding and an intimate work environment.”
Schwartz adds, “This was a competitive bid process, as lenders recognized an opportunity to contribute to an historic asset backed by a top-tier sponsor.”
The developer is targeting LEED Gold Certification. The building will offer Midtown and Hudson River-facing views on the upper floors, outdoor terraces on every office floor, upscale finishes and luxury amenities. On the sixth floor, there will be shared indoor and outdoor spaces, and an accessible rooftop terrace. With two office entrances, the main lobby will open onto Varick St. and a separate, exclusive entrance and lobby will be off St. John's Lane.
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Betsy Kim
Betsy Kim was the bureau chief, East Coast, and New York City reporter for Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com. As a lawyer and journalist, Betsy has worked as the director of editorial and content for LexisNexis Lawyers.com, a TV/multi-media journalist for NBC and CBS affiliated TV stations in the Midwest, and an associate producer at Court TV.
