Flexing Muscle: Non-Traditional Leases Growing Stronger

NEW YORK—Tishman Speyer is getting in on the increasingly competitive market of leasing non-traditional office space. The real estate company just launched Studio, a program of co-working spaces that have flexible work areas with technology, lounges and private meeting rooms. Studio is being initially launched in six key markets.

Studio at Rockefeller Center, located at 600 Fifth Ave., will open Nov. 1, 2018. The space is almost 35,000 square feet but Tishman already plans to expand it, responding to initial demand. The alternative workspace program will also open in Boston MA, at 125 High St., Washington DC at 900 19th St., Chicago, IL at the Franklin, in Los Angeles, CA at 407 Maple Plaza in Beverly Hills, and in Frankfurt, Germany at Taunusturm.

“We’ve seen great demand for flexible office space from our enterprise clients and prospective tenants and we understand the importance of agility and the need for companies of all sizes to be able to move quickly and scale as needed,” says Thais Galli, senior director of innovation at Tishman Speyer.

Studio at Rockefeller Center tenants will have access to Zo, amenities created by Tishman Speyer, allowing access to the Clubhouse by ZO at One Rockefeller Plaza. Additional tenant services include wellness programs, childcare, on-site medical services, travel planning, personal grooming, ride shares, human resources services, food and catering.

Indicating a popularity in the trend of flexible and co-working leases, on the same day of the Studio announcement, co-working company Spaces and flexible workspace provider Knotel issued press releases of their deals in New York City.

Spaces signed a 61,539 square-foot lease at 175 Pearl St. in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn. The company, which is owned by IWG, the global workplace company formerly known as Regus, will occupy part of the ground floor and the entire second and third floors at the Normandy Real Estate Partners property starting early next year.

In this deal, CBRE handled both tenant and landlord negotiations. Mark Ravesloot, Scott Sloves and Peter Danna represented Spaces. Neil King, Patrice Meagher, Paul Amrich, Jeff Fisher and Sacha Zarba represented Normandy.

It has been a busy month for Spaces, which recently signed a lease for 100,000 square feet at 787 Eleventh Ave. CBRE also brokered this deal. A joint venture of Bill Ackman’s hedge fund management company Pershing Square Capital Management and Georgetown Company had purchased the building from the Ford Motor Company for $255.5 million in July 2015, according to Real Capital Analytics.

The 464,000 square-foot structure built in 1929, was originally designed by Albert Kahn as a warehouse and showroom for Ford automobiles. It was redesigned for office use by Rafael Viñoly.

Also this month, Spaces signed a 10,989 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 in the summer, it leased 103,321 square feet at 287 Park Ave. South. JLL represented Spaces in each of those deals.

Knotel announced it finalized four leases totaling 31,973 square feet. The deals show the company’s activity throughout Manhattan—in Flatiron, Midtown, Union Square and Lower Manhattan.

In the largest transaction, Knotel leased 9,979 square feet at Winter Properties’ 26 W. 17th St. Knotel was represented by Elie Reiss of Skylight Leasing. The landlord was represented by Eric Cagner, Greg Wang, and Matt Sigel of Newark Knight Frank.

Knotel expanded its footprint at AR Global’s 200 West 41st St., leasing an additional 8,780 square feet, totaling its presence in the building to 35,120 square feet. It rented an additional 8,541 square feet to occupy a total of 32,016 square feet at Square West’s 5-9 Union Square West. Knotel also signed a 4,673 square-foot lease at Moinian Group’s 90 John St.