Kaufman signs Internet ad firm despite steep rent hike

Advertising agency the Barbarian Group is departing its current Tribeca digs and heading north to the Flatiron District.

The new digs at the Kaufman Organization’s 111 West 19th Street comprise a 23,000-square-foot spread on the building’s seventh floor, according to Compstak data cited by the New York Observer. The rent was in the upper $40s per square foot, nearly twice what previous tenant Vidipax, which was in the space since 2003, paid.

Even so, the rent is a relative bargain for the area, where asking rents are hovering between $55 and $57 per square foot, according to a recent report by Colliers International.

The brokers representing the Barbarian Group in the deal were not disclosed, according to the Observer. [NYO] — Julie Strickland