Jones Lang LaSalle
Commercial condos offer new downtown office choice
Landlord converts floors on Maiden Lane; high tech on lower 6th Ave.
Published on April 03, 2006
Business owners have a new option to buy a piece of lower Manhattan. Six floors of the 17-story office tower at 125 Maiden Lane, between Pearl and Water streets, have been converted to commercial condominiums.
The condos, which will total 160,000 square feet, are priced at $350 to $385 a square foot. The units are on the sixth through 10th floors, which have floorplates of 25,000 square feet, and on the contiguous 12th and 14th floors, which have floorplates of 18,000 square feet.
"We had considered doing a residential conversion, but we believe that office condominiums are a great concept and are underserved in the market," says Michael Rudder, director of office leasing and sales at Time Equities Inc., the landlord of 125 Maiden.
Commercial condominiums are rare in New York, but they are beginning to catch on as more companies look to own their offices. For example, the 20-story Chelsea Arts Tower at 545 W. 25th St., which is scheduled to open this summer, caters to art galleries and is already 60% sold.
On the plus side, commercial condos enable owners to lock in steady mortgage payments rather than face the unpredictability of rent increases. Some owners, such as nonprofits, are also exempt from real estate taxes. On the other hand, buyers must make a down payment, which can diminish working capital.
Time Equities converted the building after a large block of space became available. Earlier this year, law firm Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft vacated 100,000 square feet, and furniture manufacturer Empire Office Inc. and financial services firm TD Waterhouse vacated another 60,000 square feet between them. The remainder of the 350,000-square-foot building is leased to long-term tenants.
"We will consider whether to convert more space into commercial condos when the tenants' leases expire," Mr. Rudder says.
One tenant, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, which leases 12,000 square feet, is negotiating with Time Equities to buy one of the condominiums. The council recently received $3 million in grants, which it hopes to parlay into an office condo.
"We have been around for 33 years and have moved countless times," says a spokesman for the nonprofit group. "We finally have some financial stability and now would love some stability in where we reside."
--Julie Satow
Commercial condos offer new downtown office choice
Landlord converts floors on Maiden Lane; high tech on lower 6th Ave.
Published on April 03, 2006
Business owners have a new option to buy a piece of lower Manhattan. Six floors of the 17-story office tower at 125 Maiden Lane, between Pearl and Water streets, have been converted to commercial condominiums.
The condos, which will total 160,000 square feet, are priced at $350 to $385 a square foot. The units are on the sixth through 10th floors, which have floorplates of 25,000 square feet, and on the contiguous 12th and 14th floors, which have floorplates of 18,000 square feet.
"We had considered doing a residential conversion, but we believe that office condominiums are a great concept and are underserved in the market," says Michael Rudder, director of office leasing and sales at Time Equities Inc., the landlord of 125 Maiden.
Commercial condominiums are rare in New York, but they are beginning to catch on as more companies look to own their offices. For example, the 20-story Chelsea Arts Tower at 545 W. 25th St., which is scheduled to open this summer, caters to art galleries and is already 60% sold.
On the plus side, commercial condos enable owners to lock in steady mortgage payments rather than face the unpredictability of rent increases. Some owners, such as nonprofits, are also exempt from real estate taxes. On the other hand, buyers must make a down payment, which can diminish working capital.
Time Equities converted the building after a large block of space became available. Earlier this year, law firm Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft vacated 100,000 square feet, and furniture manufacturer Empire Office Inc. and financial services firm TD Waterhouse vacated another 60,000 square feet between them. The remainder of the 350,000-square-foot building is leased to long-term tenants.
"We will consider whether to convert more space into commercial condos when the tenants' leases expire," Mr. Rudder says.
One tenant, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, which leases 12,000 square feet, is negotiating with Time Equities to buy one of the condominiums. The council recently received $3 million in grants, which it hopes to parlay into an office condo.
"We have been around for 33 years and have moved countless times," says a spokesman for the nonprofit group. "We finally have some financial stability and now would love some stability in where we reside."
--Julie Satow
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 10:09 AM
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