CBRE to head up leasing at Harbor Group’s 55 Broadway

The plan is to attract tech, media, advertising and information firms

From left: 55 Broadway, Peter Turchin, Zachary Freeman and Jonathan Cope
From left: 55 Broadway, Peter Turchin, Zachary Freeman and Jonathan Cope

Harbor Group has named CBRE the agent for the 31-story 55 Broadway, a 361,000-square-foot office property also known as One Exchange Plaza.

The commercial real estate company will focus on attracting tenants from the worlds of technology, advertising, media and information, GlobeSt reported. Brad Gerla, executive vice president at CBRE, told the news site that these types of firms are increasingly looking beyond Midtown and searching for space downtown.

Falling rents have attracted tech firms to Office Space Below Chambers Street. The Downtown Alliance reports that more than 600 companies have moved downtown, a 24 percent increase year over year. In 2013, tech firms more than doubled the office space they occupied downtown.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

Two renovated spaces in the building will feature high ceilings and exposed brick. CBRE told GlobeSt that it will carve out 20,000 square feet of retail, expand the lobby and spruce up the elevators beginning in the summer or early fall.

Gerla will lead a team of CBRE leasing agents that includes Peter Turchin, Zachary Freeman and Jonathan Cope.

Virginia-based private real estate firm Harbor Group entered a contract to purchase 55 Broadway from Broad Street Development earlier this year for $157 million. [GlobeSt]Tom DiChristopher