Forest City New York, the regional office of national real estate company Forest City Realty Trust, announced that New York University has signed a new 26,000 s/f lease on the 22nd floor of 1 MetroTech Center and renewed approximately 32,000 s/f for the entire 19th floor of 1 MetroTech Center.
The NYU leases contribute to approximately 560,000 s/f of office leases Forest City has secured within its New York portfolio since the beginning of 2017.
With over 360,000 s/f of new and renewed office leasing activity located in Downtown Brooklyn, the firm’s 18-month activity highlights an active 2017 and first-half 2018 leasing season in Manhattan and Brooklyn, spurred by an influx in residential units and emerging businesses, creating heightened demand for viable business locations.
“The last 18 months of office leasing has been an active period for our New York portfolio, with several companies securing substantially sized office spaces to accommodate new locations and corporate or agency expansion. We’re thrilled to help institutions like NYU expand their downtown Brooklyn footprint,” said Ali Esmaeilzadeh, Senior Vice President, Asset Management & Leasing, with Forest City. “Brooklyn, in particular, is in the midst of an exciting period, with ongoing commercial development efforts and greater interest and demand from organizations looking to relocate to or expand within the borough. We hope to remain on pace to execute several new transactions throughout the remainder of 2018, as we continue to amplify our local assets.”
Forest City’s largest lease during this 18-month period was an 84,000 s/f lease in Harlem for the City of New York’s Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA). The City of New York’s Board of Education also renewed their lease for 63,000 square feet at Two Metrotech Center in Downtown Brooklyn.
Other notable leases include Covington & Burling’s expansion at the New York Times building for 33,000 s/f;
Uniworld Group, the largest minority-owned advertising agency in the nation, renewal at 1 Metro Tech Center for 37,000 square feet; and,
The City of New York’s Fire Department and Law Department entering into new, full-floor leases for 81,000 square feet at One Pierrepont Plaza.
Forest City was represented internally on the latest NYU leases by Esmaeilzadeh and Jesse Cooperman, Vice President, Leasing.
