NEW YORK—While the flexible office provider has been busy arranging spaces for other companies and entrepreneurs exceeding 625,000 square feet in new leases globally in 2019, Knotel relocated their own headquarters bringing 240 employees into the former New York Times building.
Over the weekend, Knotel moved into the entire eighth floor, 57,104 square feet at 229 W. 43rd St. They signed a sublease with Engine Group. Knotel declined to disclose additional lease information but according to CoStar average asking rents in the building range from the mid-$60s to mid-$70s per square foot.
The landlord, Columbia Property Trust, had acquired the office portion of the building spanning 481,110 square feet from Blackstone for $516 million in August 2015 according to Real Capital Analytics. Columbia's property spans a portion of the first through the fourth floors, and all of the fifth through the 16th floors.
Real Capital Analytics notes Kushner Companies acquired the retail condominium in the building from a joint venture of Five Mile Capital and the Africa Israel Investments Group for $295.3 million in October 2015.
With the move of their headquarters, Eugene Lee, global head of real estate and business development tells GlobeSt.com, "Knotel is experiencing significant growth, obviously from a client perspective but also in our own headcount. We've moved ourselves repeatedly to accommodate demand as companies take the spaces we sit in." He further states that Knotel employees also live the way their clients do—using flexible office space. Their prior headquarters were located at 137 Varick.
With construction completed in 1912, the building housed The New York Times company headquarters through 2007. David Cheikin, SVP, strategic real estate initiatives of Columbia Property Trust notes since its historic roots with the newspaper, "229 West 43rd Street has been a hub for innovative media and technology companies for over a century." He adds having a company like Knotel establish its headquarters in the building validates it as an environment for creative culture and as a strong digital address.
With the photo slideshow above, take a look inside Knotel's new headquarters. You can see some of the changes inside the former home of "The Grey Lady." All photos were provided by Knotel, with the exterior photo taken by Jon Ortner and all interior photos taken by James Smolka.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
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.
