Architect ESKW Moving to Bigger Digs at 52 Duane Street

The architecture firm that helped restore St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery after it was partially destroyed by a fire in 1978 has a new home — with twice the space — around the corner from New York City Hall. 

ESKW/Architects inked a 15-year lease for 8,477 square feet on the fifth floor of Benjamin Partners’ 52 Duane Street, landlord broker CBRE (CBRE) announced.

Asking rent at the 10-story building between Broadway and Federal Plaza was $48 per square foot, according to tenant broker Elizabeth Martin of E.L. Martin Partners.

The firm will bid farewell to its 4,500-square-foot office on the mezzanine and second floor of 100 Lafayette Street, which has been its home for more than 20 years.

Martin’s marching orders were to find a space in the same neighborhood that would allow ESKW to expand its footprint significantly, without splitting its office between multiple floors.

“They really wanted to stay in the same area,” Martin said. “They were looking to get more space and have more efficient operation. It’s exciting to see them expand.”

ESKW has been around since 1960, when Harold and Judith Edelman teamed with Stanley Salzman to found Edelman and Salzman Architects, according to its website. It later became known as ESKW and has spearheaded large-scale publicly subsidized housing projects, urban renewal developments and numerous projects for the New York City Department of Design and Construction over the decades. 

CBRE’s Brad Gerla, Jonathan Cope and Masha Dudelzak represented Benjamin Partners. The CBRE brokers did not respond to a request for comment.

Abigail Nehring can be reached at anehring@commercialobserver.com.