The Roosevelt Institute, which promotes the “legacy, values and spirit” of the nation’s 32nd president and his wife, took 10,400 feet at the building previously known as the RCA Victor building, The Feil Organization’s 50-floor asset at 570 Lexington Avenue.
The Institute is consolidating two existing offices at 570 Lexington, as well as another in Washington D.C., into one large space at the Lexington Avenue suite, all while expanding in a 12-year deal.
“It’s the first time they have direct space,” said Robair Reichenstein, the Cassidy Turley agent who brokered the deal, along with David Lebenstein. “Now they have their own identity.”
The landlord is paying for a custom build-out of the space, which should be completed by Dec. 1.
Roosevelt’s negotiations were complex, due to a need to combine its three different office needs: a fellowship program that needed a quiet, think tank-like space, and a campus organizing network that wanted a bull-pen, in addition to some standard office space.
Nestled behind St. Bartholomew’s church, the rose-tinted granite building has a colorful history. First known as the RCA Victor building, the neo-Romanesque property was bought by GE when RCA built a new building at 30 Rockefeller Center. Later, GE would follow RCA’s footsteps again, decamping for 30 Rock.
In 1993, the small floor plates of the asset were thought to be so hard to market that the owner donated it to Columbia University.
The building has come a long way since then—vacancy is now three percent, according to Mr. Lebenstein.
Asking rent in the deal was $45 per square foot, and Brian Feil represented the Feil Organization in-house.
