Fifield Piaker Elman Architects upgrades and repositions 16-story 40 Worth Street

40 Worth St., the block-long, 16-story office building has been completely repositioned as a destination building for creative firms, law offices and not-for-profits, with the Gap as the anchor tenant. A Tribeca fixture since it opened in 1929, the building had previously provided back office space for New York City public agencies. Part of the turn-around is due to Fifield Piaker Elman Architects (FPE), which was hired by Newmark Knight Frank to work with potential tenants in creating office spaces that met their forward-looking needs. "We introduced a modern, industrial design vocabulary that reflected the design consciousness of the new tenants and could be easily adapted to individual preferences in layouts, finishes and budget," said Mark Elman, RA, the FPE principal who led the project. The designers worked on five floors of the building, starting with the public areas. They then assisted such tenants as the international cosmetics company The Maesa Group, the Legal Aid Society and the Innocence Project to first fit their space requirements within each floor's extended, 50,000 s/f foot print and then tailor the design to their requirements. "When we engaged FPE," says Brian Steinwurtzle, Newmark's asset manager for the 700,000-square-foot property, "we imagined that they would be doing a significant pre-build program. But in fact, the demand was for fit-outs and they designed for very different tenants to make sure they got the office spaces that suited their needs. The balancing act of honoring both the owner's and tenant's interests can be very difficult to maintain and they did it with all of the projects. The building is now 99% leased." In addition to creating a consistent design approach, FPE coordinated the work being done by various contractors on the floors so that projects moved forward efficiently throughout the entire process.