Rudin Family Closes 72 KSF in Leases at Tribeca Icon

32 Avenue of Americas. Image courtesy of Rudin Management

The Rudin Family has closed two leases totaling 72,000 square feet at 32 Avenue of the Americas, a 27-story, 1.2 million-square-foot office tower in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood. The tenants are Cedar, a health-care technology company, and Dorilton Capital, an investment firm.

Cedar signed a 66,753-square-foot lease for the tower’s 18th floor and a portion of the 17th floor. The company’s current headquarters encompasses 17,000 square feet at 95 Morton St. The move to the new location is scheduled for the last quarter of this year.

Dorilton Capital expanded by 5,148 square feet on the 27th floor, bringing its footprint in the tower to 38,646 square feet. A tenant at 32 Avenue of the Americas since 2017, the investment firm now occupies the entire 26th floor, as well as portions of the 17th and the 27th floors.

The location’s roster includes significant tenants such as iHeart Media, Dentsu, Digital Realty, Cambridge University Press, Verizon, CoreSite Lumen and NYU, as well as coworking provider Industrious, which occupies 52,000 square feet, according to CommercialEdge data.

A New York icon

Built roughly a century ago, the Art Deco-style tower at 32 Avenue of the Americas was designed by architect Ralph Thomas Walker of Vorhees, Gremlin and Walker, and is a registered NYC historical landmark. The Rudin Family has been owning the property since 1999, when it acquired the high-rise from AT&T for $140 million, CommercialEdge data shows. In 2002, the property underwent extensive renovations.

The office tower, home to several TAMI tenants, features two 140-foot radio towers, electrical fail-over protection and access to more than 50 telecommunication networks. Floorplates range from 25,000 to 52,000 square feet. The Canal Street Metro station and the Tribeca Park are across the street, while Tribeca’s numerous restaurants, luxury hotels and shops are within walking distance.

Rudin Senior Vice President Robert Steinman represented the landlord in both leasing agreements. The Avison Yong New York team that arranged the transaction on behalf of Cedar included President & Managing Director Mitti Liebersohn and Senior Associate Evan Foley.

Manhattan office market faces crosswinds

This April, Rudin announced the multimillion-dollar repositioning of the Thomas Reuters Building, another New York landmark. Upgrades at the office tower are part of the company’s strategy to stay competitive in Manhattan’s fluctuating office market.

In July, Manhattan registered a 10.9 percent vacancy rate, up 270 basis points over a 12-month period, but still well below the 15.5 percent national figure. The borough is also performing considerably better than other gateway markets including Washington, D.C. (15.9 percent) and Chicago (16.7 percent).

With the Delta variant of COVID-19 still on the rise, Manhattan’s silver linings are getting a bit blurry. A recent survey by the Partnership for New York City shows that only 41 percent of the borough’s employees are expected to return to offices by the end of September. However, 54 percent of employers have not delayed plans to return, the study also shows.