Nonprofit takes office space left vacant by Pfizer

Nonprofit organization Fedcap has agreed to take a 30-year lease for 64,000 square feet at the Durst Organization’s 205 East 42nd Street, a space once occupied by Pfizer.

The space will essentially function as an office condominium for the next three decades, the New York Post reported. Durst reached a similar deal with the City University of New York in 2012 after Pfizer’s departure left the building manager with 250,000 square feet of vacant space.

A spokesperson for Durst told the Post that Fedcap would be exempted from paying real estate taxes as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.

Tom Bow, a senior vice president at Durst, declined to tell the paper what Fedcap is paying for the space, but said “it knocks $7 a square foot off what they’d pay under a conventional lease.” He added that the leasehold condo structure allows nonprofits to stay in a prime location as many are being priced out of Midtown South.

Asking rents at the 500,000-square-foot 205 East 42nd Street range from $50 to $58 per square foot, according to the Post.

Ira Schuman, David Carlos and Kurt Handschumacher of Savills Studley represented Fedcap in the deal, while Bow and Brandl Frey represented Durst in house. [NYP] — Tom DiChistopher