Last year Capstone Equities purchased 14 Wall Street, a 1 million-square-foot building in the heart of the Financial District, for $325 million, and the firm immediately embarked upon a capital improvements project that has resulted in more than $25 million being invested in the Class A structure so far.
Along with standard improvements, like a renovation of the building’s lobby, Capstone introduced a new amenity for tenants that may set a standard for luxury office buildings in Manhattan: A private concierge is now available to every employee who works in the skyscraper.
Early last month, Capstone tapped Abigail Michaels, one of the city’s leading concierge companies, to start offering its services, which can include anything from getting an organic dinner delivered late at night to dispatching a dog walker to someone’s apartment.
“Tenant retainment is very important for us,” says Daniel Ghadamian, a Capstone principal. “We’re not looking to just move tenants into our building and forget about them … this is just an additional service we’re providing.”
Ghadamian says that the building, where rents start in the mid- to high $40s per square foot and range up to almost $60 a square foot, was 68 percent leased when Capstone purchased it — and it is now more than 90 percent occupied.
New tenants include New York University and F.J. Sciame Construction Co. Other businesses with offices at 14 Wall Street include TheStreet.com and the New York Stock Exchange.
Abigail Michaels has been in business since 2002; most of its clients are residential buildings. The company provides building-wide services for all of the Related Companies’ rental portfolio, such as Chelsea’s Caledonia and the Upper East Side’s One Carnegie Hill.
Abbie Newman and Michael Fazio, the founders of Abigail Michaels, say that when they started their company, they wanted to get commercial buildings as clients, but, as Fazio puts it, “The residential side just took off.”
Newman notes that servicing a commercial building is a “natural” fit.
“Given the fact that people spend an average of 50 hours a week in their workplace, it makes a lot of sense,” she says. “This sort of thing lends itself perfectly for retention in a building like this.”
While having a concierge service in a commercial building is not a new phenomenon — for example, in the late ’90s a firm called Executive Concierge was tapped to work onsite out of all Midtown properties represented by Cushman & Wakefield, according to an article in a weekly trade publication — Abigail Michaels’ model is very 21st century in that all of their work is done virtually.
“We have a team of 15 people working out of an office that you reach when you use us,” says Newman. The firm has a database with local businesses that it can tap.
“We’re becoming the bridge between work and life,” argues Fazio.
Michael Morris, the president of Concierge Service International, a company that competes with Abigail Michaels and services the Gotham Organization’s residential portfolio, says making the jump to commercial buildings is the logical next step for the concierge industry.
“The real chance for growth in this industry lies within the real estate market, whether it’s commercial or residential,” says Morris. “Developers are really starting to take a look at these companies and see the value they add. I wouldn’t be surprised if a developer brings in a management company and the management company partners up with a concierge service. It legitimizes your decision. It’s really where everybody’s heading.”