Tech inked big office leases in February, but not the biggest

UPDATED, March 3, 10:46 a.m.

New York City’s office largest leasing deals were cumulatively smaller in February than the previous month, but larger than in February of last year. Tech giants Amazon and Apple again inked large leases last month, but the largest deal was signed by Whittle School & Studios.

The total space taken by February’s top 10 office leases made public was 1.8 million square feet, down 23 percent from January’s total but up 80 percent from the 10 largest in February 2019.

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New York

Manhattan office leasing just had its most active year since 2001

Here were the city’s largest office leases of the month:

1) Whittle School & Studios | 181 Livingston Street | Downtown Brooklyn — 620,000 square feet
The institution, which aims to be the “world’s first global school,” finalized a 20-year lease for which it has been in talks for almost a year. David Maurer-Hollaender and Douglas Lehman of CBRE represented the tenant while Mary Ann Tighe, Evan Haskell, Jeff Fischer, Zac Price and Dave Caperna of CBRE represented the landlord, Tishman Speyer.

2) Amazon | 66-26 Metropolitan Avenue | Glendale — 300,000 square feet
The e-commerce giant inked a lease to take over the space from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, plus the remaining empty space in the building, bringing it to full occupancy. The landlord is Rentar Development.

3) Apple | 11 Penn Plaza | Penn Plaza — 220,000 square feet
The tech giant signed a 5-year lease as it lost out to Facebook for office space in the James A. Farley Post Office building, which Vornado Realty Trust is redeveloping. Peter Riguardi, Martin Horner and Kirill Azovtsev of JLL represented the tenant while Glen Weiss represented Vornado in-house.

4) MDC Partners | 1 World Trade Center | Financial District — 199,277 square feet
The marketing company inked an 11-year lease in the building owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the Durst Organization. Peter Riguardi, Michael Berg, Howard Hersh and Brad Lane of JLL represented the tenant while Eric Engelhardt and Karen Kuznick of the Durst Organization represented the owners, alongside a Newmark Knight Frank team of David Falk, Jason Greenstein, Peter Shimkin, Hal Stein and Travis Wilson.

5) Industrious | 1 Penn Plaza | Penn Plaza — 100,000 square feet
The flexible-workspace company signed a deal for 80,000 square feet of flexible office space and 20,000 square feet of conference space. The landlord, Vornado Realty Trust, will partner with Industrious and share profits from the space, rather than receiving a fixed rent.

6) National Grid | 2 Hanson Place | Downtown Brooklyn — 87,000 square feet
The electricity and gas provider inked a lease for the little-known Brooklyn office property. Brookfield Properties owns the office space in the building, which is next to the borough’s most recognized building, the former Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower. James Frank, Daniel Johnsen, Lawrence Wilks, Joseph Cirone, Patrick Dugan and Helen Paul of Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenant in the lease.

7) INTL FCStone | 230 Park Avenue | Grand Central — 73,000 square feet
The financial services firm consolidated its space at 155 East 44th Street and 530 Fifth Avenue. Matthew Felice, David Miller and Gilbert Ohls of JLL represented the tenant while Jordan Berger of RXR Realty represented the landlord in-house, alongside a Newmark Knight Frank team of Brian Waterman, Scott Klau, Erik Harris, Zachary Weil and Cole Gendels.

8) Marcum | 730 Third Avenue | Grand Central — 70,728 square feet
The accounting firm inked a lease. Ross Perlman and Lee Brodsky of Newmark Knight Frank represented the tenant while Neil King and Paul Amrich of CBRE represented the landlord, TIAA.

9) Cine Magic | 30-15 48th Avenue | Long Island City — 61,000 square feet
The film studio inked a lease. Jonathan Burke and Patrick Gardner of JW Burke & Company represented the tenant while Hillel Gal-Osher of Sholom & Zuckerbrot Realty represented the landlord, Novelty Crystal Corporation.

10) Susquehanna International Group | 140 Broadway | Financial District — 52,412 square feet
The trading firm renewed its 15-year lease. Brian Goldman and Ross Perlman of Newmark Knight Frank represented the tenant while Robert Constable of Cushman & Wakefield represented the landlord, Union Investments.