Kith Signs On as Anchor Tenant at 25 Kent

The trendy apparel and sneaker retailer will leave its current headquarters at 337 Lafayette Street in Noho for 57,679 square feet of industrial space at 25 Kent, the building’s developers announced yesterday. It will relocate its 75-person workforce, along with its production, design and “front office” functions, to the third floor of the Gensler and HWKN-designed brick-and-glass structure. The terms of the lease were not disclosed.

The company will occupy two-thirds of the property’s 87,000 square feet of manufacturing space. This retailer also has stores at 233 Flatbush Avenue in Prospect Heights and its Soho flagship at 337 Lafayette. 

Kith is the first permanent tenant for 25 Kent, which recently nailed down a short-term lease with Refinery29 instagram museum 29Rooms. Smorgasburg also has a five-month deal to host its weekend winter market in 30,000 square feet on the eighth floor of the building. The market began in early November and will continue through March.

Rubenstein Partners and Heritage Equity Partners have been working on the eight-story, 500,000-square-foot building since 2015, when it seemed like a gamble to develop a spec office project in Williamsburg. However, Rubenstein’s Jeff Fronek told Bloomberg—which first reported on the Kith lease—that his company is in talks with “technology companies and a brewery” as potential tenants.

“When the opportunity to move our brand HQ into 25 Kent came up, I realized it was something that we had to do,” Kith Founder Ronnie Fieg said in a statement. “Creating a makerspace in Williamsburg embodies the ideals we hold as a brand that include creating inclusive and innovative experiences in new exciting surroundings.”

Michael Yadgard of Compass handled the transaction for Kith. He called 25 Kent “an exemplar of innovation in Williamsburg,” and said he was “excited and fortunate to have been given the opportunity to play my part in securing the anchor tenant for this unique development.”

The landlord was represented by Gregory Tannor, Jaime Schultz, Brad Schwarz and Jeff Lopez at Lee & Associates NYC, and Peter Riguardi, Howard Hersch, Sam Seiler and Brett Harvey at JLL. 

“It’s a monumental deal not only for 25 Kent but for that part of Williamsburg,” said Tannor. “It’s refacing that part of the neighborhood with a cutting edge brand. The rest of the retail will follow suit because of this transaction with Kith.”

Update: This story has been updated to reflect the fact that Kith will not be taking retail space at 25 Kent, and that the company will be moving from Noho, not Soho.