Digital Mortgage Lender Better.com Heads to 3 WTC
By Rebecca Baird-Remba March 15, 2019 12:57 pm
reprints
Online mortgage provider Better.com is moving within the World Trade Center.
The fintech firm signed a 44,000-square-foot lease on the 59th floor of 3 World Trade Center, landlord Silverstein Properties announced in a press release. The length of the lease wasn’t immediately disclosed, but it comes with the option to expand to two additional floors. Asking rents in the building are in the $80s per square foot, Commercial Observer reported in January.
Last year Better.com relocated from Soho to the 36th floor of 7 World Trade Center, and now it’s moving to an even larger office in 3 WTC.
“We’re humbled and honored to be in the same place that once housed financial institutions like Salomon Brothers,” Better.com CEO Vishal Garg said in a statement. “No other location in New York combines the sense of history, dynamism and grit that makes New York special, along with amazing state-of-the-art facilities like the World Trade Center.”
In the past year, the company which digitized the loan estimate and mortgage approval process, has originated $1.3 billion in mortgages and hired 480 people, per the release. It also recently closed $75 million in Series C funding.
Better.com will join tenants like spirits producer Diageo, online mattress seller Casper, fintech outfit Hudson River Trading, advertising conglomerate GroupM and consulting giant McKinsey & Company.
“The new World Trade Center is a terrific place for new and fast growing companies to move, grow and prosper,” said Larry Silverstein, the chairman of Silverstein Properties, in prepared remarks. “That’s why we’ve succeeded in leasing almost 8 million square feet of space here, and why many companies have expanded and moved within our buildings.”
Silverstein’s Jeremy Moss and Camille McGratty handled the negotiations for the landlord in-house, along with a CBRE (CBRE) team of Mary Ann Tighe, Steven Siegel, Adam Foster, Steve Eynon, Evan Haskell, David Caperna, Ken Meyerson and Rob Hill. Better.com was represented by James Wenk and Dan Turkewitz of JLL (JLL). Spokespeople for CBRE and JLL didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
