Partygoers mingle at the Corner at Wall Street party (left, top left and bottom right) where a victorian-era vault (top right) remains. (Exterior shot of the Corner at Wall Street, bottom left: PropertyShark)
The marketing team for the Corner at Wall Street, also known as — take your pick — 23 Wall Street, 15 Broad Street, 35 Wall Street, Downtown by Starck and the House of Morgan, officially relaunched its retail leasing efforts this week after years of uncertainty about the future of the former headquarters of J.P. Morgan & Co. Today, J.P. Morgan is the investment banking arm of JPMorgan Chase.
Earlier this week, The Real Deal dropped by a swanky soiree at the converted and connected buildings, where hundreds of brokers and investor-types gathered in one of the expansive, raw retail spaces overlooking the New York Stock Exchange, now being offered as a “flagship retail opportunity” by managing agent JSR Capital. In all, there are almost 150,000 square feet up for grabs in the buildings, with multiple possible floorplans available.
Years ago, before Africa Israel sold the landmark 23 Wall Street to a joint venture between Angola’s state oil company and a Hong Kong investment group, Apple was said to be interested in the space, but reportedly withdrew from the talks amid the turmoil on Wall Street in late 2008.
Among the spots available at 23 Wall Street today is an underground “English Basement,” which includes a Victorian-era vault — a relic of the building’s days as the bank’s headquarters.
Attendees of the bash included new Keller Williams hotshot Ilan Bracha; Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Ariel Cohen; Jona Rechnitz of JSR Capital and Lansco’s Christine Emery and Yair Staav, the latter two who were originally hired to lease out the Corner at Wall Street in 2003, before it changed ownership, and are now listing the 1,800-square-foot retail space available in its 15 Broad Street portion.
After the party, Emery told The Real Deal that her vision for the Corner at Wall Street is ultimately something akin to the converted former stock exchange building in London. “It kind of sits the way the J.P. Morgan banking building does… caddy-cornered. It has been turned into retail and it is fabulous. I’d like to get as close to that as possible,” she said.
Don’t count on a department store, though: Emery says the surrounding streets are too narrow to accommodate the constant shipments that type of retailer would require. “We fantasized about that back in 2004,” she said, but “I do not think it’s realistic.”
