It began with a rush to expand before Veterans Day, easily the busiest time of the year for the Wounded Warriors Project.
The non-profit, which since 2002 has assisted servicemen and women injured in combat, had occupied a small 4,700 square feet space at 7 Penn Plaza, but urgently needed to expand by the Nov. 11 federal holiday in order to host a whirlwind week of activities and visitors, many of them wounded veterans, brokers at Cassidy Turley said.
Although the Feil Organization combed the building for available office space, nothing immediately turned up. In time, however, the landlord took advantage of what Cassidy Turley broker David Lebenstein described as “found space,” an 18th-floor storage room that, until now, had been occupied by a series of water tanks.
The epiphany allowed Wounded Warriors to relocate from 4,700 square feet on the third floor to 9,400 square feet on the 18th in a 10-year deal that will allow the non-profit additional room for growth. And over the next year the group plans to do just that.
“All our clients are doing good, but these clients are really doing good. This is really important,” said Robair Reichenstein, who worked with Mr. Lebenstein as broker for the tenant. “You end up taking it home. I have had many conversations with my wife about it.”
Asking rent in the deal was in the low $40s. David Turino represented the Feil Organization in-house.
