BarkBox Parent Company Relocating to 52K SF at Silverstein’s Equitable Building
By Mark Hallum November 18, 2021 4:22 pm
reprints
The Silverstein Properties-owned Equitable Building at 120 Broadway will have the makers of BarkBox as a new tenant on the entire 52,000-square-foot 12th floor, Commercial Observer has learned.
The pet supply subscription box company, known officially as BARK, signed a 15-year lease and is expected to relocate from its current location at 221 Canal Street by the fall of 2022, Silverstein’s Joseph Artusa told CO.
“One of the things that was really attractive to this tenant was Lower Manhattan, the proximity to transportation … And the other thing that was important to them when they first came to the building was creating an environment for their employees to come back to work,” Artusa, who brokered the deal in-house, said. “The other thing that was important was that they had that Meatpacking [District] and SoHo vibe for their employees.”
BARK will have all its employees on a single H-shaped floor footprint, but will also have access to the 20,000 square feet of rooftop space at the 40-story building.
The recently renovated property has a view of the Statue of Liberty and a food court operated by Great Performances.
“The building, what we’ve done to it to really separate it from other products in the market, is to expose all of these beautiful, natural design elements that were originally incorporated when it was built in 1915,” Artusa said. “What we did proactively was we went in and exposed all the brick on the floors and the most dramatic thing that we did is — this building, because of the size of it, had beautiful steel columns that had been hidden behind three layers for maybe 100 years of sheetrock, terra-cotta and brick, which were the fireproofing at the time – we removed all that. We exposed the beautiful black columns that made floor much more attractive to a tenant like this.”
Silverstein spent about $52 million in 2019 to restore the building back to its original condition, something Artusa said the Landmarks Preservation Commission was in favor of and has been attractive to potential tenants.
“We are thrilled to move to an office that accommodates all of our employees, but more importantly our dogs, on one floor,” Rustin Richburg, BARK’s Chief People Officer, said.
Artusa declined to provide the asking rent.
Artusa and Camille McGratty handled the deal in-house along with Newmark‘s Scott Klau, Brian Waterman and Erik Harris. Greg Taubin of Savills represented BARK.
Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.
