Tech research firm inks 24K sf lease at newly-renovated Norwalk office park

Forrester Research will occupy the entire sixth floor of Building 501 at Clarion Partners' Merritt 7 campus

Building 501 at Merritt 7 in Norwalk, CT (Merritt 7)
Building 501 at Merritt 7 in Norwalk, CT (Merritt 7)

Clarion Partners and Marcus Partners have found a tenant to scoop up a full floor of space at their renovated office campus in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Forrester Research is taking 24,000 square feet of space across the sixth floor of Building 501 at Merritt 7 in Norwalk, the office landlords announced on Thursday.

The lease is a yet another sign that landlords of suburban office campuses are well positioned to pick up tenants during the Covid-19 pandemic, which has caused Manhattan lease activity to fall by over 20 percent.

Merritt 7, a six-building, 1.4 million-square-foot office park that sits adjacent to the Metro North rail station, is also in the process of receiving a facelift. Architectural firm Gensler created new amenity spaces and a redesigned outdoor plaza for buildings 501 and 601. Other pending upgrades include a curated food market, barista bar and a private lounge, the owners said in a statement. The work was planned prior to Covid-19.

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Robert Richards, William H. Montague and Elizabeth Donatoni of Cushman & Wakefield represented Forrester Research in the lease deal. Ownership was represented in-house and also by Thomas Pajolek and Ned Burns of CBRE.

Forrester, which primarily researchers technology and its impact on business, has research centers in Cambridge, Manhattan, San Francisco, Washington D.C. and Dallas. It’s unclear what Forrester is paying per square foot for its space at Building 501. About 250,000 square feet remain unclaimed at the buildings 501 and 601.

Major tenants at Merritt 7 include Hearst, Datto, Aon, Xerox and Siemens. In 2017, an affiliate of New York-based Clarion received $100 million in financing for the office campus.