William Macklowe leases 8,459 s/f to Port Authority

New York, NY The relocation of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s Office of Medical Services to downtown Manhattan’s first ever medical office building is now official.

According to Billy Macklowe, CEO of William Macklowe Co., the 15-year lease for 8,459 s/f comprising a portion of the 4^th floor at 156 William St. has closed.

William Macklowe Co. and joint venture partner LaSalle Investment Management, which owns the 12-story, 250,000 s/f  L-shaped property that fronts on Ann and Beekman Sts. in the Financial District, acquired the 1950’s commercial building in 2013 and orchestrated its transformation into a medical facility over the past year-and-a-half.

Currently located at 233 Park Ave. South, the PA’s Office of Medical Services expects to open its new downtown offices this coming Spring. Brokers Paul Wexler and Josef Yadgarov of Wexler Healthcare Properties represented both landlord and tenant in the long-term leasing transaction.

At the same time he was signing up a new tenant, Macklowe also announced that Riverside Research Institute has renewed its 17,000 s/f lease for the entire 9^th floor at 156 William St. These two transactions bring the building to 96% occupancy.

Only two small spaces – 3,000 square feet on the 4th floor and 3,731 s/f on the 8th floor that are being designed and pre-built for medical use remain available for rent.

Richard McBride of Richard McBride Real Estate Services and Craig Reicher of CBRE represented Riverside in the lease renewal while Wexler and Yadgarov represented the building’s ownership.

The anchor tenant at 156 William Street is Weill Cornell Medical College, which occupies over 85,000 square feet in the building, including a spectacular two-level, 14,000 square foot medical imaging center focused on serving the downtown community.

Macklowe is not surprised by the strong response to his vision for 156 William Street.

“Given its strategic location across the street from New York Presbyterian/lower Manhattan Hospital and the relative dearth of nearby medical offices to serve the downtown community, we knew that targeting health care tenants was the right prescription for this asset,” he said.