NYC Parks Department Takes 30K SF in Queens for Forestry Division
By Celia Young December 14, 2022 5:30 pm
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The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation took 30,000 square feet to house its Division of Forestry, Horticulture and Natural Resources at 97-77 Queens Boulevard in Rego Park, Queens.
The Parks Department signed a 20-year deal for the fourth and fifth floors of the LeFrak-owned building, according to landlord broker CBRE’s Roy Chipkin. Asking rent was $44 per square foot.
The Division of Forestry will move in next year. Parks officials were drawn to the property’s underground parking and large floor plates, which LeFrak renovated when the space’s previous tenant, the United Federation of Teachers, ditched the building in 2019 to relocate to Forest Hills, Chipkin said.
“When a 30,000-square-foot tenant is looking for space, there aren’t that many alternatives [in Rego Park and Forest Hills] that have quality, security and services in the building — and we also had parking to accommodate them,” Chipkin said.
It was not immediately clear if the Division of Forestry was relocating or opening a new office. A spokesperson for the Parks Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Other tenants at the 13-story property at the corner of 64th Road and 98th Street include New York Life Insurance, private college St. Paul’s School of Nursing, and New York University Langone Health’s Perlmutter Cancer Center.
Sean Wilson, Michael Lee and John Reinertsen of CBRE represented the Parks Department alongside the Department of Citywide Administrative Services’ Christine Stoddard.
Celia Young can be reached at cyoung@commercialobserver.com.
