By: Ellen Cans
A new lease has been signed at the 21-story boutique office tower at the former Palladium disco site near Union Square Park.
As reported by the NY Post, the building at 124 E. 14th Stjust signed Dicks Sporting Goods on as a future tenant. The sporting retail giant, which has roughly 850 retail stores across the country, will take on 25,000-square-foot of space at the building together with its youth sports platform, GameChanger.
Zero Irving, which is this trophy-class office building’s name, boasts a total of 176,000-square-feet of space, and after this lease deal it will be roughly 90 percent taken. Last week, the building’s 10,000 square-foot ground-floor Urban Space food hall opened to the public, which is a signature feature at the tower.
The tower came to fruition led by New York City-based real estate developer RAL Development Services, JRE Partners, which is a real estate investment division of J.P. Morgan Asset Management, and architecture firm Davis Brody Bond. The tower cost $200 million, and posed a risky endeavor for the developers, who signed a long-term ground lease four years ago, leasing the land from the city. “It’s been a saga since then,” said RAL managing director Josh Wein. “We built it through Covid with all the uncertainties.”
Asking rent prices at the tower started at $120 per square foot, while the top floors had ask prices of $180 per square foot. As per the Post, the prized commercial tower previously signed on prestigious tenants including Melio Payments, Sigma Computing, Laurel Road, Alpine Investors, and the largest tenant, Civic Hall, which is a digital skills training center and event space which will take on six floors. Dick’s will take on the tower’s 17th and 18th floors, along with GameChanger, a tech company.
Unconfirmed reports by online newsletter The Information also add that another new tenant has signed on. Though the developers wouldn’t confirm it, the report says that Sequoia, a Menlo Park-based venture capital firm, has also signed a lease at the tower. The lease will be Sequoia’s first space outside of California, and it will bring the Zero Irving tower to nearly 100 percent leased.
As per the Post, Wein said the Union Square Park area has had a strong comeback following the pandemic closures, though he pointed out that “Class-B and C properties are really struggling” with vacancies. He said Zero Irving was more fortunate in finding tenants, due to its sought-after amenities catering to modern tech-driven firms. Tenants at the building will have access to a large, landscaped roof deck, a 14,000 square-foot event and conferencing space, as well as a full-service fitness center and bike room. Each alternating floor features corner double-height rooms with 23-foot ceilings and the higher floors enjoy impressive views.
The Dick’s/ Gamechanger lease deal was handled by JLL on both sides, with broker Simon Landman for the tenant and Mitchell Konsker, Ben Bass, Kristen Morgan, Danny Turkewitz and Carlee Palmer representing the landlord.
