You can’t say that negotiating big lease deals are child’s play. The Children’s Museum of Manhattan has pulled out of talks to take about 70,000 square feet of space at the Essex Crossing development in the Lower East Side.
“We had a wonderful conversation, but at the end of the day it didn’t work out,” the museum’s executive director Andy Ackerman told Crain’s. “Location, financing, timing—all those things have to line up.”
The museum, located on West 83rd Street, is looking to expand to at least 70,000 square feet and is still considering locations in the Upper West Side and the Financial District. It just completed the most successful quarter in its history in terms of attendance. Real estate advisory firm Denham Wolf is leading the search to find space for the museum.
The Essex Crossing development, a partnership between BFC Partners [TRDataCustom], L + M Development Partners and Taconic Investment Partners, is set to include 1,000 apartments and 850,000 square feet of commercial space.
Earlier this month, Trader Joe’s signed a lease in Essex Crossing at 145 Clinton Street. The grocery store will join Planet Fitness at the building, which totals about 70,000 square feet of commercial space.
Goldman Sachs is backing the Essex Crossing project with up to $500 million in financing. [Crain’s] — Konrad Putzier