EY takes two floors at Columbia Property’s 218 West 18th

Updated: April 13 3:47 p.m.: Accounting firm EY is taking two floors at Columbia Property Trust’s 218 West 18th Street in Chelsea.

EY, which is moving its U.S. headquarters to Brookfield’s One Manhattan West, signed a 27,000 square foot lease to occupy the ninth and 10th floors of the 12-story office building. The company, which was previously a sub-tenant in the property, first moved into the building in 2016 after signing a sublease with consulting firm SY Partners. EY’s new lease, which closed in March, is for more than five years.

The “Big Four” accounting firm has created outposts as it faced the termination of its 1 million square feet lease at RXR Realty’s 5 Times Square. Last November, the company entered into a 600,000 square foot deal at the Manhattan West complex. The lease covers 17 stories in Brookfield’s 67-story tower. Aside from the new One Manhattan West location, the firm also signed a deal at SJP Properties’ Waterfront Corporate Center II in Hoboken.

The company’s new home is a 167,210 square foot tower located between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. Columbia bought the building, along with 245 West 17th Street on the same block, from New York REIT in a $515 million deal. The fully-leased tower contains the New York City headquarters of beverage maker Red Bull. Other tenants in the building include video production firm Company 3 and creative media school SAE Institute of Technology.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Charlie Stephens and Sam Clark represented EY in the transaction.

Update: The story was updated to include information on EY’s sublease and the brokers involved in the deal.