Premium Merchant Funding Leaving Trump Building for 16K SF at 55 Water

reprints


A financial institution for small businesses, Premium Merchant Funding, has sub-subleased 15,965 square feet from foreign exchange trading firm Forex Capital Markets in the Financial District, Commercial Observer has learned.

Premium Merchant Funding will occupy 15,965 square feet on the 50th floor at 55 Water Street via an eight-year sub-sublease, as per a source. The asking rents were in the mid-$50s per square foot. Premium Merchant Funding will relocate from the Trump Organization‘s Trump Building at 40 Wall Street soon.

SEE ALSO: Cushman & Wakefield’s Joanne Podell Explains Retail’s Dramatic Changes

Forex took the 60,000-square-foot 50th floor in the 52-story, 3.6-million-square-foot building between Old Slip and Coenties Alley in a 2011 sublease, according to Real Estate Weekly at the time. At this juncture, Forex had excess space to give up, and Premium Merchant Funding had grown out of its 10,000 square feet at 40 Wall Street. The new sub-sublease transaction closed last week.

“All of us at Premium Merchant Funding (PMF) are very excited to move to a new office on Water Street,” Mason Kashat, a manager at PMF emailed. “PMF began three years ago with just five employees. Today we have more than 120 employees in New York, Florida, Michigan and Israel. This will enable us to provide financial services for more small to midsize and even big businesses.”

David Ofman of the Lawrence Group represented Forex in the deal. Newmark (NMRK) Knight Frank’s Paul Ippolito and Cushman & Wakefield (CWK)’s Stephen Burke represented Premium Merchant Funding. Ofman and a spokeswoman for NKF didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, and Burke declined to comment via a spokesman.

The Class-A office building is owned by Retirement Systems of Alabama. Tenants include S&P Global, New York City Department of Transportation and Teachers’ Retirement System.

Update: This story has been edited to include a comment form the sub-subtenant.