The manager of an Australian property fund that bought up hundreds of one-to-four-family homes in the greater New York area during the recession is taking a 25,000-square-foot office lease in the Financial District.
Dixon Advisory, a Jersey City-based firm that oversees a real estate investment trust that owns roughly 2,000 residential units in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Hudson County, signed a lease last month to take the entire 28th floor at the 1.7-million-square-foot 140 Broadway.
The landlord will move into the space in December. Dixon, which is an arm of an Australian retirement fund manager, is currently headquartered at Harborside Financial Center in Downtown Jersey City.
David Orr, executive director at Dixon, said the company needed more space in addition to its Jersey City office as it continues to expand.
“We love the building and the location in the revitalized downtown Manhattan,” Orr wrote in an email. “We are really pleased that we’ve grown steadily and successfully in both New Jersey and New York.”
Zachary Price and Michael Rizzo of CBRE represented the tenant. A Cushman & Wakefield team of Robert Constable, Louis D’Avanzo and Willard Overlock lead leasing at 140 Broadway, which is owned by Union Investment Real Estate, an arm of the German DZ Bank Group.
Dixon started investing in US real estate in 2011, buying up homes in Hudson County, Brownstone Brooklyn and Queens at rock bottom prices during the recession.
The company’s U.S. Masters Residential Property Fund, directed by Dixon CEO Alan Dixon, now owns 550 houses and 27 apartment buildings, according to its website.
The REIT trades on the Australian Securities Exchange and has a market capitalization of $558 million.
Tenants at 140 Broadway, also known as the Marine Midland bank building, include GFI Capital Resources and its brokerage arm, GFI Realty, CBRE, JLL and the shared-office-space provider Regus. Brown Brothers Harriman, the country’s oldest privately owned bank, is the anchor tenant in the 51-story office tower.