10gen will head to former NYT building

Tech firm 10gen has inked a five-year lease for about 29,400 square feet inside the former New York Times building at 229 West 43rd Street, Crain’s reported. The corporation database developer is leaving its current, less spacious Soho office for more than double the space uptown. 10gen is planning an April move.

As previously reported, Blackstone Group was on the hunt for a tenant for the top 12 floors of the 18-story property. Blackstone even spent $105 million on upgrades to the nearly 480,000-square-foot space and added ping-pong tables and a basketball court to attract tech tenants.

10gen had reportedly wanted to find a lease in Soho or Midtown South, but due to the lack of available space, the firm had to look elsewhere.

Asking rent was not disclosed, but brokers told Crain’s in June that rent in the building was between $70 and $80 per square foot.

Greg Taubin and Gabe Marans of Studley represented 10gen; Equity Office, a Blackstone affiliate, was represented in-house by Adam Goldenberg and Josh Glick.

10gen has the option to expand into the rest of the 30,000 square feet on their eighth floor space during the lease. [Crain’s] — Zachary Kussin