Helen Keller inks 46K sf lease deal in DoBro

Blind services tenant sold former HQ for $54M last year

From left: Helen Keller, Joseph Sitt and 180 Livingston Street
From left: Helen Keller, Joseph Sitt and 180 Livingston Street

Helen Keller Services for the Blind is taking just over 46,000 square feet of office space at 180 Livingston Street in Downtown Brooklyn, sources told The Real Deal, just a few months after it sold its headquarters in the neighborhood.

The organization signed a 30-year lease for the entire second floor of the building and part of the first floor, and will have a separate entrance within the office and retail property owned by Thor Equities.

Thor [TRDataCustom] bought the building, which is one block from the Fulton Mall, for $136 million in 2015 from Brooklyn Tabernacle and Treeline Companies.

Whitten Morris and Joseph Sipala of Newmark Knight Frank represented Thor in the lease deal, while Keith Caggiano and Timothy Sheehan of CBRE represented the tenant.

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The rents for the property were not immediately available, but rents in the neighborhood average about $41 per square foot, according to NKF data.

The deal comes just six months after Helen Keller, which helps the blind and visually impaired gain independence, sold its former Brooklyn headquarters at 57-63 Willoughby Street to Meadow Partners for $54 million.

(To view more of Thor Equities’ office leasing transactions, click here)