Controversial Accessibility Tech Company AcessiBe Takes 9K SF at 1140 Broadway
By Celia Young July 7, 2022 6:28 pm
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A tech company criticized by disability advocates more than doubled its space at 1140 Broadway, Commercial Observer has learned.
AccessiBe, which offers software it claims makes websites compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, expanded to 8,700 square feet in a seven-year deal at the building on the corner of West 26th Street, according to the landlord, Williams Equities. Asking rent was $59 per square foot.
The firm — whose products are used by brands such as Pillsbury, Benadryl and Netflix — first moved its more than 100 employees into the 200,000-square-foot building in October of last year, according to a blog post from the company. Just months before, blind people and disability advocates signed a letter criticizing the firm, saying its software hampers the screen readers that blind people use to access the internet. The largest U.S. blind advocacy group later banned the company from its national convention in June. In response, AccessiBe created a dedicated team to receive customer feedback, NBC reported.
The controversy doesn’t seem to have hampered the company’s growth at the building. AccessiBe’s expanded offices will neighbor architecture firm Meridian Design Associates, which holds about 8,500 square feet across the entire sixth floor, and brand and design company ICrave, which holds about 8,500 square feet across the entire second floor.
“Creative companies continue to flock to NoMad,” Andrew Roos, principal at Williams Equities, said in a statement. “Our building at 1140 Broadway offers tenants the opportunity to thrive in a neighborhood with excellent transportation and bounded by Madison Square Park and a thriving ecosystem of restaurants, hotels and other experiential retail.”
LSL Advisors’ Eric Siegel and Daniel Lolai handled the deal for the tenant. Siegel declined to comment. Lolai and AccessiBe did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Williams Equities declined to comment on who represented the landlord in-house in the deal.
Celia Young can be reached at cyoung@commercialobserver.com.
