David Zwirner Gallery has picked up another piece of Chelsea.
The New York art fixture signed a 36,000-square-foot lease with Elijah Equities at 520 West 20th Street, the Commercial Observer reported. Zwirner’s new headquarters and gallery space will occupy part of the ground floor and the entire second and third floors.
The asking rent for available space in the seven-story, 100,000-square-foot converted warehouse is $145 per square foot. The lease, which didn’t require brokers, is for 10 years.
Elijah Equities’ landmarked building is already an art lover’s dream. Renovated and expanded by Morris Adjmi Architects two years ago, the property has two other art galleries from Los Angeles-based David Kordansky Gallery and Mexico City-based Kurimanzutto.
Zwirner’s presence in Chelsea is unmissable. The Elijah Equities building will be the third gallery for the company in the neighborhood. It also has a gallery at 525 West 19th Street and across the street at 537 West 20th Street in a building recently completed by Selldorf Architects, which will design Zwirner’s latest space.
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The first Zwirner gallery opened in SoHo nearly three decades ago before departing for Chelsea in 2002. There are other New York City locations in Tribeca and the Upper East Side, as well as international outposts in London, Paris and Hong Kong.
Chelsea’s days as an artist’s mecca appeared to be over as development around the High Line in the last decade spiked rents and sent many galleries to cheaper locales, like the Lower East Side.
However, galleries are still popping up in the neighborhood The Feil Organization last year leased 18,000 square feet at 520-530 West 25th Street to the Petzel Gallery, a leader in Manhattan’s contemporary art scene. The gallery was founded in 1994 on Wooster Street and counts Ross Bleckner, Simon Denny and Sarah Morris among its artist portfolio.
— Holden Walter-Warner