challenging leasing environment for 7
World Trade, but Lieber explains that the
core appeal of the building’s new construction and green features helped attract a
diverse roster of tenants. One of the first to
take space was the New York Academy of
Sciences, which had been located on
Manhattan’s Upper East Side since 1949.
Lieber says the deal was the beginning of
Downtown’s diversification—well before
Condé made its commitment.
“They sold their townhouse on Fifth
Avenue, moved down here, created a conference center and made this place a center
of intellectual activity,” he says. Shortly after,
7 World Trade got its first major anchor tenant. In September 2006, Moody’s Corp.
signed a 20-year, 600,000-square-foot lease
to occupy 15 floors at the tower, making it
the largest deal of the year—and a game-changer for the leasing efforts at the site.
Then, in December 2008, WestLB, a
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German investment bank, signed a 15-year
lease for approximately 129,000 square feet
on the top three floors of the tower, moving
from 1211 Ave. of the Americas. As a result,
the building’s lease up began to accelerate,
Lieber says.
“For the traditional financial services
companies, the fundamentals of this building—green, high tech, new space, highly
productive for their workforce—trumped all
of the negatives associations, which were
more opinion-driven,” he says. “It came to
represent the diversification of the local
business community. Moody’s is the anchor,
but for the rest of the building, you’ve drawn
in all these creative firms, which are not historically the kinds of companies who wanted
to be Downtown,” citing tenants such as
music licensing manager BMI and Mansueto
Ventures, publisher of Fast Company and Inc.
magazines. The building has now reached
100% occupancy after telecommunications
firm MSCI Inc. signed on for 80,000 feet.
Going forward, Mary Ann Tighe, CBRE’s
CEO of the New York Tri-State Region, who
represented Conde on its relocation to 1
World Trade (see story, page 26), says the
industry can look at the state of Downtown’s
real estate in a positive or negative way. “It is
a timing fluke that 2013 is when so much
space will become available at the World
Financial Center and at 55 Water St., and
when the first of the World Trade Center
buildings, 4 World Trade, will become avail-
able for occupancy, ” she says. “At that time,
the likelihood of the financial services indus-
try taking up that space is probably remote
because of the cutbacks that we envision.
Even if there aren’t cutbacks, everybody
feels the absence of growth is a problem.”
The upside, she says, is that it will cause
Downtown’s tenant base to diversify by vir-
tue of the fact that growth is happening in
other areas. “Media, technology, education,
service firms—all are experiencing growth
in Manhattan right now and, as a result,
there are very few significant blocks of
space available in Midtown.”
Lieber agrees, noting that New
Yorkers—and the world at large—are
beginning to see what’s really happening
Downtown. “There’s a sense of optimism
that these buildings are going to be suc-
cessful,” he says. “None of us has a crystal
ball, but we do have the experience. As we
saw with 7 World Trade Center, you can
open a building empty, but great compa-
nies will eventually fill it.” ◆
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24 REAL ESTATE FORUM FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012
Part of the ForumLOCAL Series
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