By: Hadassa Kalatizadeh

The world’s largest hedge fund manager, has inked a deal to open its first Manhattan office. As reported by the NY Post, Bridgewater Associates, discreetly closed on a 60,000 square-foot lease at 295 Fifth Ave. late last week. As first reported by Realty Check, the Westport-based firm inked the deal at the former Textile Building, which takes up the entire east block between West 30th and West 31st streets in Midtown South, just north of Madison Square Park. The building’s owners Tribeca Investment Group (TIG), PGIM Real Estate and Meadow Partners had given the 100-year-old building a revamp, spending some $350 million to redevelop the 700,000 square-foot property for modern office use.

The renovations included a newly-imagined lobby designed by Studio Mai, state-of-the-art technology, a ground-floor courtyard, terraces and hospitality amenities. The 19-story building now boasts a new two-story penthouse, as well as a lower floor conference room that seats 74 people and features a 78″ LED presentation screen, with surround sound audio.

Per the Post, Bridgewater’s expansion into Manhattan follows a reported downsizing 18 months ago, in which some 100 were jobs cut out of the 1,300-person workforce. The new Manhattan space is its first location outside of Connecticut. Most of the firm’s employees will stay in Connecticut. The firm, founded in 1975 by Ray Dalio, boasted some $125 billion assets under management, as of 2023. As of 2022, Bridgewater has posted the second highest gains of any hedge fund since its inception in 1975. In 2022, the company named Nir Bar Dea, a retired and platoon leader in the Israeli Defense Forces, as its new CEO. Since taking the reigns Bar Dea has taken steps to change the firm’s closed culture, and the new lease is one of those moves.

The lease had been rumored a few weeks ago by Bloomberg News, before the deal has been closed. JLL brokers who repped Bridgewater and CBRE which repped the landlords did not comment on the deal.

The new lease bodes well for the Midtown South area. A new CBRE report found that the district “has evolved into a more balanced leasing market” which now includes financial and legal tenants, after the long dominant tech industry has started to pull back in its leasing activity. Building upgrades and added amenities in Midtown South “will now benefit a broader tenant mix,” CBRE said. As availability dwindles in trophy properties throughout Manhattan, “Midtown South is poised to capture the spillover of demand.”

The report says that Midtown South’s stock of mostly older buildings appealed to tech firms, for their preference towards non-glass and non-steel buildings, and for their “non-corporate-vibe” features like exposed ceilings, polished concrete, and exposed brick.” The Tech sector’s leasing activity in the submarket had peaked in 2019 at 46%, but since then it gradually slowed from 2021 to 2023, and so far in 2024 claims only 17% of the submarket.

Per the Post, the district has seen some 5.8 million square feet of new construction and 13.3 million square feet of renovations. The supply improvements “now benefit a more equitable industry mix,” CBRE said.