Investment Firm Hivemind Takes 7K SF at 315 Park Avenue South for First Office
By Nicholas Rizzi August 12, 2022 10:59 am
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Crypto-focused investment firm Hivemind Capital, which recently acquired music streaming service Napster, inked a deal to open its first offices at 315 Park Avenue South, Commercial Observer has learned.
The company signed a three-year lease for 7,137 square feet on part of the fourth floor of the 20-story building, according to a source with knowledge of the deal. Asking rent was $99 per square foot.
Hivemind was started in 2021 by former Citigroup executive Matt Zhang as a $1.5 billion fund focused on crypto and blockchain investments, according to Bloomberg. The firm made its first major investment in May when it picked up Napster — the file-sharing service that helped start the digital music revolution in the 2000s but was shut down amid legal challenges by record labels and the rock group Metallica — with Algorand for an undisclosed price.
Napster’s new owners plan to rebuild the company, which re-emerged in 2011 as a streaming service, to focus on cryptocurrency and nonfungible tokens, Bloomberg reported.
For its first office at 315 Park Avenue South, Hivemind will join cryptocurrency exchange Gemini Trust, streaming service Twitch and real estate investment platform Cadre, which recently leased 17,050 square feet in the Midtown South building at the corner of Park Avenue South and East 24th Street.
Newmark’s Peter Shimkin, David Falk, Jonathan Fanuzzi and Jordyn Comras represented landlord Columbia Property Trust. Jason Kroeger and Patrick Dugan of Cushman & Wakefield brokered the deal for Hivemind. Spokespeople for Newmark and C&W declined to comment.
Nicholas Rizzi can be reached at nrizzi@commercialobserver.com.
