Taubin of Studley reps tenant in 27,500 s/f lease

Quirky Inc has signed a lease to relocate to 601 West 27th St., more than tripling the size of its operation. The company signed a 10-year, 27,500 s/f lease to occupy a part of the seventh floor of the Chelsea submarket loft building. The company has been located at 628 Broadway since it was founded in 2009 and is expected to take occupancy of its new office by year-end. Senior managing director Greg Taubin of international commercial real estate services firm Studley represented the tenant in the transaction. The landlord, Waterfront New York Realty Corp., was represented in-house by Chris Flagg. 601 West 27th St., also known as 261 Eleventh Ave., is comprised of 24 buildings and was built in the late 1800s. The 1.2 million s/f building, referred to as the Terminal Warehouse Building, has primarily been used as a ministorage facility. "Quirky made it clear to me that while expansion was the priority, its mandate was first to secure new space that would allow Quirky to retain its unique identity and secondly satisfy its need for a creative, rustic looking space with high ceilings and exposed brick walls," said Taubin. "Securing such space for Quirky in the tightest submarket in New York City, where opportunities are slim, as well as in a building that could accommodate Quirky's immediate and future growth needs, was a huge challenge." "We are going to do the dopest stuff in our new space," said Ben Kaufman, founder and CEO of Quirky. "We'll be fitting the space out to be a state-of-the-art design and creative lab, and an amazing playground of invention. We want to create this awesome space where our team thrives and people can come and join us in the invention process. This is the ideal building with an amazing history and we can't wait to make it happen." Taubin said that aside from the location, 601 West 27th St. is an ideal fit for Quirky. "I identified an off the grid building that will likely become the beneficiary of such creative tenants due to the building's aesthetics and the current lack of supply."