Two Sigma inks lease at Cornell Tech

The Bridge at Cornell Tech — designed to be a hub where tech businesses and academics meet — signed its first private tenant.

Soho-based Two Sigma Investments LP plans to take 9,200 square feet at the top of the building, part of Cornell’s new 12-acre campus on Roosevelt Island.

The financial firm, which uses data to make predictions and automate trades, will use the new space as a “Collision Lab,” where employees will interact with Cornell’s faculty members and students, chief technology officer Alfred Spector told the Wall Street Journal. “We think a connection between a firm like ourselves and really bright faculty and students at Cornell Tech allows us to recruit that talent and be near ideas,” he said.

Newmark Grubb Knight Frank’s [TRDataCustom] Neil Goldmacher and Josh Friedman represented Two Sigma in the lease deal. The company’s venture capital affiliate, Two Sigma Ventures, will also take up space at the Bridge, along with some of the 47 startups it has invested in.

Renderings of The Bridge at Cornell Tech (Credit: Steelblue / Forest City Ratner Companies)

The Bridge, a six-story structure being developed by Forest City Ratner Companies, is one of three buildings in the $2 billion campus. Cornell Tech will occupy 39 percent of the 230,000-square-foot building, which is expected to open in September.

The building has a rooftop common area and co-working space on one floor.

The developers envision 15 to 18 tenants taking up to 10,000 square feet each, and the lease terms are between five and 10 years — shorter than typical office leases, according to Mary Ann Tighe, chief executive of CBRE’s New York Tri-State Region, who is part of the Bridge’s leasing team.

Cornell Tech’s campus ultimately will house 10 buildings — a mix of academic buildings, residences, a hotel and mixed-use buildings. [WSJ] — E.B. Solomont