Birch Coffee Takes Space at 8 Spruce Street
By Lauren Elkies Schram April 17, 2015 12:50 pm
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Birch Coffee fans will get their java on in Lower Manhattan at 8 Spruce Street by the end of the year, Commercial Observer has learned.
For its seventh location, Manhattan-based Birch Coffee, which serves coffee, tea, food, beer and wine, signed a 10-year lease for the entire 904-square-foot retail space at the 76-story, 904-unit residential New York By Gehry Building between Nassau and William Streets, Birch Coffee’s broker said. The asking rent was $125 per square foot.
Kyle Allen of Synapse Development Group represented Birch Coffee in the ground-floor deal. He also negotiated on Birch Coffee’s behalf in a February lease at 432 Third Avenue in Murray Hill, which CO previously reported. Lon Rubackin of CBRE represented the landlord, Forest City Ratner Companies, in the 8 Spruce Street deal.
Mr. Rubackin told CO that he had been marketing the space for four years, seeking the “right tenant for the space,” he said.
“Forest City was very concerned about the quality of the tenant,” Mr. Rubackin said. “We had a lot of chains offer us more money throughout the time I was leasing it. They wanted a smaller company, a company that was more consumer-friendly, I’d say than just a chain. Forest City is the kind of company that really tries to promote smaller businesses, minority-owned businesses when possible.”
Mr. Allen said in prepared remarks: “Surrounded by new redevelopments including The Beekman and South Street Seaport, the iconic building is the perfect location for Birch Coffee to plant its first Financial District flag and offer the high-end, relaxed café ambience and experience Birch’s loyal customers rave about.”
