Port Authority Expected to Move Its Medical Offices to FiDi
By Terence Cullen October 18, 2016 3:00 pm
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The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey will likely take 8,459 square feet in Lower Manhattan for medical offices, in what would be a second move for the agency within the last month.
Commissioners of the bi-state agency are set to vote Thursday on the 15-year lease at 156 William Street between Ann and Beekman Streets, according to an agenda for this week’s meeting. The fourth-floor space would house its Office of Medical Services, which are currently based on the eighth floor of 233 Park Avenue South between East 18th and East 19th Streets.
The Port Authority would pay just under $8.3 million over the term, the documents indicate. That comes out to about $65 per square foot. The agreement also allows the agency to extend for an additional five years, during which time the Port Authority would pay another $3.5 million in total rent. The landlord has also agreed to give three months of free rent.
The lease at 233 Park Avenue South is set to expire on Oct. 31, according to the Port Authority agenda, but the landlord agreed to a five-month extension. The Port Authority will move into its new offices in the Financial District in April 2017.
Departing 233 Park Avenue South is part of a broader push to relocate the Port Authority’s offices, which were split up following 9/11—when a number of the agency’s employees died in its offices at the original 1 World Trade Center. The Port Authority signed a deal at 225 Park Avenue South along with the neighboring 233 Park Avenue South. Employees at those two buildings began relocating to Silverstein Properties’ 4 World Trade Center in 2014, the agenda notes.
Offices for its construction divisions set up shop at 115 Broadway after the attacks and subsequent rebuilding. Commissioners voted last month to move the departments to 80 Pine Street between Water and Pearl Streets, reducing its space as the World Trade Center is nearly complete.
The Port Authority chose to sign at 156 William Street rather than 4 WTC because it was redeveloped for medical uses in 2014, and was “uniquely suited” to house its medical services office, according to the agenda. Landlord William Macklowe told Commercial Observer in March 2014 that the 24,000-square-foot floors could be cut up for two to three healthcare-related users. Other medical tenants include Weill Cornell Medical College, which in July signed a 55,000-square-foot lease for several floors of the 250,000-square-foot building, as CO reported at the time.
A spokesman for Macklowe declined to comment. It was not immediately clear if brokers are involved in the Port Authority transaction.
