Redwood City-based StrongMail Expands, But Not Without Hitch

Still, Mr. Benoit, a 20-something upstart hired by the Kaufman Organization less than two years ago, said he was suited for the task. Indeed, like many young brokers, he gained his experience and built a reputation by endlessly dialing his way down cold-call sheets.

“That’s how I met StrongMail,” he said. “Hitting the phones. Some people dread it, but I like it. It’s amazing to think that, in brokerage, you can make something out of nothing.”

Mr. Benoit canvassed landlords with urgency, finally hitting a jackpot when he reached Marvin Davis, a landlord who owns 104 West 27th Street and another office building in the area. At 104 West 27th Street, Mr. Davis told of a tenant exiting the building’s ninth floor, a roughly 6,000-square-foot space. The floor hadn’t even been put on the market, he recalled.

“It wasn’t available, which was a tremendous advantage to us,” Mr. Benoit said. “If that space had been on the market, it would have gone very quickly.”

Mr. Benoit negotiated, but securing a lease wasn’t his only concern. One of the attractions was the office’s fully furnished floor, complete with wiring and electricity for workstations and computers, and

StrongMail executives feared the departing tenant might gut the space by night and smuggle the infrastructure to its new location. “We ended up speaking with the outgoing tenant and making sure that they didn’t remove everything,” Mr. Benoit said.