FirstMarks the Spot: Venture Capital Firm Plants Seed at 100-104 Fifth Avenue
By Daniel Edward Rosen February 23, 2012 3:21 pm
reprintsVenture capital firm firstmark capital landed in a veritable hornets nest of digital activity after it agreed to a 10-year lease at 100-104 Fifth Avenue, a tech-trendy building that already has Apple and Yelp
as one of its many social media tenants.
FirstMark Capital, which counts Pinterest and Lumos Labs among its many seed investments, will be moving out of its 19th floor office on 120 West 45th Street for 10,600 square feet in the Kaufman Organization-owned building. Bruce Rothman of Studley represented FirstMark Capital in the deal. Grant Greenspan represented the Kaufman Organization in-house.
Since buying the pre-war building in January 2011, Kaufman Organization has lured in a steady stream of tech and social media tenants, including Interactive Partners and Net-A-Porter.
Mr. Greenspan estimates that two-thirds of the 270,000 square feet at 100-104 Fifth Avenue is being occupied by a digital-themed tenant.
“They want the antiquity, but they also want the modern connectivity,” said Mr. Greenspan, adding that Kaufman has also vastly upgraded the building’s telecommunications capabilities to accomodate these tenants.
It was such improvements to the buildings, and additions to its tenant roster, that attracted FirstMark to the space.
“They sought out the building,” said Mr. Greenspan. Mr. Rothman could not be immediately reached for comment.
The feel of FirstMark’s new office will be “techy,” he added.
“I want to describe it as few offices, large, open-type space with glass conference rooms,” he said. “It’s going to be a very modern type of office space.”
Asking rent in the building is $55 a square foot. Kaufman and Invesco, the co-owners of the building, are currently embarking on a $9 million capital improvement program to upgrade the building’s lobbies, elevators, and infrastructure.
FirstMark Capital has nearly $2 billion in capital commitments. It did not respond to a request for comment.
drosen@observer.com
