Architecture and Design Firm FCA Moves to 6K SF at 261 Fifth Avenue

Architecture and design firm FCA is moving its New York City office from Tribeca to NoMad.

FCA, which was founded in 1954 as Francis Cauffman Wilkinson & Pepper and has worked on projects like the Brooklyn Health Center, has signed a lease for 6,015 square feet on the fourth floor of Feil Organization’s 261 Fifth Avenue, according to tenant broker Avison Young.

The firm will relocate from its current offices at 40 Worth Street in Tribeca, according to its website.

“In seeking their new Manhattan home, FCA needed a high-end, client-focused space that would facilitate the collaboration necessary to take their services to the next level,” Avison Young’s Michael Gottlieb, who brokered the deal for the tenant along with Alexis Odgers and Joel Wechsler, said in a statement.

“Building a partnership with FCA helped us best understand their needs and how best to achieve them,” Gottlieb added. “261 Fifth Avenue is a fantastic and centrally located property that not only brings them closer to their clients and partners, but also allows them proximity to nearby amenities that are equally enticing for FCA’s clients and employees alike.”

261 Fifth Avenue is a 26-story building at the corner of Fifth Avenue and West 29th Street, three blocks north of Madison Square Park.

The length of the lease and asking rent were unclear, but a report from Colliers found office rents in Midtown South averaged $78.10 per square foot in January.

Feil was represented by an in-house leasing team of Timothy Parlante and Andrew Wiener.

FCA, which has other offices in Philadelphia, Orlando and New Haven, Conn., has made a name for itself designing health care, corporate, life sciences and technology offices for prominent clients such as EisnerAmper, SUNY Downstate Medical College, Spotify and the New York Institute of Technology, according to Avison Young.

“Our new office in New York City will exemplify our philosophy of smart, purposeful design — creating a big program in a small box,” Davey “Buzz” Riley, principal at FCA, said in a statement. “Designed for a team of 40 and serving as a dynamic hub for our other offices, this space maximizes every square inch, blending efficiency and functionality with the creativity and vision that define our work.”

Tenants at 261 Fifth Avenue include reinsurance firm Lockton Re, French skin care company Biologique Recherche and public relations firm Bold PR.

“It’s a pleasure to welcome such an innovative firm as FCA to the Feil portfolio,” Wiener said in a statement. “With its captivating classic architecture, modern workspaces and premier location, we’re confident that 261 Fifth Avenue will provide immense value to FCA as its new Manhattan office location.”

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.