Shapses, Schwartzenberg and Messina of Studley handle 44,101 s/f lease

HAKS Engineers has positioned itself to take full advantage of the opportunities for the management of public sector construction work supported by Federal Stimulus funds. As a result, the firm is expanding its office space in its headquarters by 30 % by committing to 44,101 s/f at The Trump Building at 40 Wall St. Housed on the 11th floor in 33,426 s/f since 2004, the firm is expanding by an additional 10,675 s/f on part of the fourth floor. "We've hired 100 people across all disciplines over the past year," said Shahid Akhtar, CFO of HAKS, "And we expect to add more people in our construction management division as a result of the additional public-sector work." Though most of these new hires are in the field, Shahid continued, we've also had to expand our management team, and that's who will be filling the new offices." Executive managing director Marc Shapses, managing director Jason Schwartzenberg and senior managing director Joseph Messina of international commercial real estate services firm Studley represented HAKS in the 10-year lease expansion and extension, making the two leases coterminous. "This expansion and extension came at a good time for my client," said Shapses. "We have locked in desirable lease rates for the next 10 years." The landlord will be building-out turnkey space on the fourth floor and has provided a work letter that will cover upgrades to the existing space on the 11th floor. Jeffrey Lichtenberg, an independent consultant, and Adam Foster, Bradley Gerla, Michael Higgins, Gregg Rothkin and Rima Shpolyansky of CBRE, together represented The Trump Organization. Other tenants in the building include CNA Insurance, Heidrick & Struggles, Countrywide Insurance, and Susquehanna. Attorneys in the transaction were: Howard Rubin of Geotz Fitzpatrick LLP for the tenant and George Ross of the Trump Organization.