Fast-growing style blog leases 30K square feet near City Hall

New York City-based style and fashion blog Refinery29 inked a deal for two floors of office space a block from City Hall. The move will more than quadruple the amount of space it currently occupies in Midtown South.

The seven-year-old women’s style website — which provides fashion and trend content related to New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington D.C. and London – signed the 10-year lease for 30,550 square feet taking the entire 22nd and 23rd floors of 225 Broadway. The 516,800-square-foot office tower is at the corner of Barclay Street and the asking rent for the space was $38 per square foot, CoStar Group information shows.

The deal comes after Refinery29 took 6,500 square feet at 30 Cooper Square in mid-2011. But the website quickly outgrew that space, said Corey Borg, an associate director at Newmark Grubb Knight Frank. He and Eric Zemachson, a senior managing director at Newmark, represented Refinery29 in the deal.

The firm has seen revenue explode from $421,966 in 2008 to more than $8.6 million in 2011, information from the business magazine Inc. shows.

The search for bigger office space was a difficult one for Refinery29 because rents have been rising in Midtown South, where the company was initially looking for space, and availabilities there are scare, in part because of demand from tech firms.

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“We looked at every available space on the market under 23rd Street,” Borg said. “We saw around 30 buildings. But the price was right [at 225 Broadway] and they will be able to grow into the space while keeping their cool vibe and the brand of the company intact.”

Borg said the feel of the space was “very important” to the website and “high ceilings with good natural light was a necessity.”

The space at 30 Cooper Square is now up for sublease.

Braun Management, which owns 225 Broadway, represented itself in the transaction.