40 Worth St.
NEW YORK CITY—The Innocence Project, founded in 1992 by Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck at the Cardozo School of Law, is a non-profit that works to exonerate people who are wrongly convicted of crimes. It's known for its use of DNA evidence and advocacy for criminal justice reform.
The organization signed a deal with GFP Real Estate to remain at 40 Worth St. in Lower Manhattan, expanding to 34,000 square feet in a 10-year lease. Rents were not disclosed but CoStar notes that in the building a deal signed last year for $60 per square foot.
In 2010, the Innocence Project first moved to the location leasing 20,000 square feet on the seventh floor. In 2014, it expanded another 3,000 square feet. As the Innocence Project continued to grow, it retained John Mambrino and Nicholas Farmakis from Savills.
During a two-year search when 40 Worth St. was 100% leased, one of the Innocence Project's neighboring tenants, Maesa, needed to relocate. Savills arranged a three-party transaction where Maesa cancelled its lease with GFP four years early and the Innocence Project leased 18,250 square feet of Maesa's space. The non-profit shed a small portion of its own space, and maintained the rest of its lease. In its renewal, the Innocence Project leased approximately 34,000 square feet all on the seventh floor and received a tenant improvement allowance to build out its new space.
“As the Innocence Project was coming closer to its 2021 lease expiration, when considering the capital expense of a relocation as well as the organization's strong relationship with GFP, renewing and expanding to Maesa's space was the best solution,” says Farmakis.
Roy Lapidus of Newmark Knight Frank represented GFP.
Built in 1929, 40 Worth St. is a 750,000-square-foot neo-classical building situated between Church Street and West Broadway. Building tenants include the non-profits the Acumen Fund and the Legal Aid Society. It also houses the East Coast headquarters of The Gap.
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.
