George Comfort & Sons Lands Tenant at Renovated NYC Tower

135 W. 50th St. Image courtesy of Gensler/Robert Deitchler

The recently renovated office tower at 135 W. 50th St. in Midtown Manhattan continues to rake in a host of commitments on the heels of its approximately $50 million renovation, as a major consumer goods company inks a new 62,000-square-foot lease agreement, taking a full floor at the 925,000-square-foot building.

The new tenant signed the long-term deal with George Comfort & Sons Inc., which serves as asset manager of the 23-story high-rise on behalf of owner UBS Realty Investors. Matt Coudert, Andrew Conrad and Alexander Bermingham of George Comfort represented the company in the lease transaction, while Jeffrey Peck and Daniel Horowitz of Savills stood in for the tenant.

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Originally designed by Emery Roth & Sons, 135 W. 50th first opened its doors in 1963, just a block away from Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall and surrounded by transit. In 2021, George Comfort announced the completion of the sweeping modernization of the property, which architecture firm Gensler had spearheaded.

The comprehensive transformation ranges from the enhancement of the building’s connection to the neighborhood to the amenitization of the property with the creation of Club 135 by Industrious, a 20,000-square-foot, third-party managed, tenant-only space with a multipurpose room, collaborative workspaces, executive conference rooms, game room, lounge and bar area.

The minds behind the reimagining of 135 W. 50th were determined to create a cutting-edge workplace and had planned on such features as destination dispatch elevators with HID Bluetooth readers, wave sensors at entry doors and indoor/outdoor terraces before COVID-19 struck. However, the team incorporated additional health-focused improvements into the design in light of the pandemic, including touchless fixtures in all common-area bathrooms. Essentially, 135 W. 50th has a premier health and happiness package and the result for the newly signed tenant and other office users is such benefits as access to the property’s wellness facility, which offers yoga classes, meditation areas and the like.

Workplace ecosystem takes center stage

Renovations in the office market matter more than ever, particularly since the sector continues to struggle. The reinvention of 135 W. 150th—with its new focus on employee wellness, contentment and convenience—appears to have had a notable impact on the tenant roster. Flex-office provider Industrious signed a 36,000-square-foot lease in the fourth quarter of 2020, reportedly attracted to the renovations that were still underway at the time. Additionally, at the end of 2019, when tenant Mazars USA learned of the repositioning plans for the building, the accounting firm was eager to recommit to its occupancy and ultimately signed a 16-year lease for new Gensler-designed offices in the tower.

The newest tenant to fall for the allure of 135 W. 50th, the consumer goods company, will relocate to the building in the fourth quarter of 2022.