Forest City Ratner Cos. inks two leases at New York Times building

According to Forest City Ratner Cos., (FCRC) the Government of Flanders, and Autonomy, Inc., have signed leases for space in The New York Times Building at 620 Eighth Ave. The Government of Flanders, which represents Belgium's Flemish-speaking community of 6 million people, is leasing 7,400 s/f on the 44th floor for an Investment and Trade Office, an Office of Tourism, and Flanders House, dedicated to cultural promotion. Autonomy, Inc., which utilizes a combination of technologies developed from research conducted at Cambridge University, is leasing 5,375 s/f on the 38th floor. Bruce Ratner, chairman and CEO of FCRC said, "I'm very pleased that The New York Times Building has been so successful in continuing to attract a diverse group of distinguished tenants, especially in this challenging real estate market." The Government of Flanders was represented by Andrew Simon, executive managing director at NAI Global New York City and Robert Kluge, associate. Autonomy, Inc.'s lease was handled by Ross Zimbalist of CB Richard Ellis (CBRE). FCRC was represented in both transactions by the CBRE brokerage team including CEO Mary Ann Tighe; vice chairman Howard Fiddle; executive VPs Peter Turchin and Tim Dempsey; senior VP Jason Pollen; and senior associate Evan Haskell. The 1.5 million s/f New York Times Building is jointly owned, as condominiums, by The New York Times Co. and FCRC. The Times Co. owns floors 2 through 27 and FCRC owns floors 29 through 50 and floor 52, as well as 21,000 s/f of retail space on the ground floor. Floors 28 and 51 are jointly owned by The Times Co. and FCRC. Forest City Ratner Cos. (FCRC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Forest City Enterprises, Inc. owns and operates 32 properties in the New York metropolitan area. Forest City Enterprises, Inc. is a $10.9 -billion NYSE-listed national real estate company. The company is principally engaged in the ownership, development, management and acquisition of commercial and residential real estate and land throughout the U.S.