Paul Taylor Dance Company Expanding in Move to Midtown
By Nicholas Rizzi January 10, 2024 12:45 pm
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A well-known dance troupe will pirouette from the Lower East Side to much bigger Midtown digs.
The Paul Taylor Dance Company signed a 30-year leasehold condominium agreement with George Comfort & Sons to take over 31,000 square feet on the ninth and 10th floors of 307 West 38th Street, The New York Times first reported.
Asking rent was in the mid-$30s to low $40s per square foot, according to a spokesperson for the landlord.
The new agreement — which means the dance company will essentially own the floors and split the $8 million to $10 million renovation costs with the landlord — will allow Paul Taylor to upgrade from its 13,000-square-foot space on the Lower East Side and have more space for rehearsals, classes, performances and other events, the Times reported.
“With this planned expansion, we are redoubling our commitment to dance education while also providing our company of outstanding dancers the state-of-the-art studios that will support their work with new choreographers as well as their performance of Paul Taylor’s unparalleled repertory,” John Tomlinson, the executive director of the dance company, said in a statement.
The company has leased space at 551 Grand Street for about 15 years. It will keep that space to host performances and other events, according to Lincoln Property Company‘s Jeffrey Rosenblatt, who represented the tenant in the deal. It plans to move its offices and studio spaces to the 21-story 307 West 38th, two blocks south of Midtown’s Port Authority Bus Terminal, in early 2025, according to George Comfort.
Paul Taylor Dance Company was founded in 1954 by Paul Taylor, whom the Times described as one of the greatest choreographers of modern dance, and who was active with the company as a choreographer until his death in 2018. The 16-member dance company recently completed a series of performances at the Lincoln Center, according to a press release about the move. It will stage shows this year in Ohio, Nevada, Florida and Italy.
It wanted to expand to more space and embarked on a nearly two-year process scouring the city to find a spot that would be able to house their dance studios, and not cost an arm and a leg, Rosenblatt said.
“It basically seemed like an impossible search because they needed high ceilings and few columns at an affordable price,” Rosenblatt said. “We basically searched all over and kind of came up empty.”
Eventually, Rosenblatt heard about the space at 307 West 38th and found George Comfort willing to put work in to raise the ceiling heights to allow Paul Taylor to move in.
“When I told [the landlord] about who they were, they were very excited about the use and said they could do this,” Rosenblatt said. “It’s great for the neighborhood, it’s great for the building.”
George Comfort handled the deal in-house via Peter Duncan, Matthew Coudert and Alexander Bermingham.
“World-renowned cultural institutions like the Paul Taylor Dance Company are the lifeblood of New York City and a key component to the Big Apple’s enduring allure,” Duncan said in a statement. “We are thrilled to be able to accommodate its latest expansion set inside an iconic and thriving Midtown neighborhood.”
With additional reporting by Mark Hallum.
Nicholas Rizzi can be reached at nrizzi@commercialobserver.com.
