Law Firm Knobbe Martens Takes Over 27K SF From Penguin Random House at 1745 Broadway
By Isabelle Durso February 26, 2025 3:11 pm
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Knobbe Martens, an intellectual property and technology law firm, is taking over a small chunk of publishing group Penguin Random House’s office space in Midtown, Commercial Observer has learned.
The law firm signed a deal to sublease 27,375 square feet on the entire 21st floor of Invesco Real Estate (IVZ)’s 1745 Broadway from Penguin, which has a total of roughly 604,000 square feet at the building, according to a source with knowledge of the deal.
Asking rent was $49 per square foot for the deal, which has a term lasting until June 30, 2033, the source said. The 27,375-square-foot sublease represents roughly 4.5 percent of Penguin’s office space.
Newmark (NMRK)’s David Berke and Scott Gutnick brokered the deal for Knobbe Martens, while Cushman & Wakefield (CWK)’s Adam Ardise, Troy Elias, Stephen Bellwood, Lei-Lani Keelan and Richard Bernstein represented the sublandlord.
Newmark, C&W and Invesco declined to comment, while spokespeople for Knobbe Martens and Penguin did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Knobbe Martens, which provides legal counsel to clients in fields ranging from physics to engineering, will relocate from its current offices at 1155 Avenue of the Americas as part of the deal, the source said.
Penguin last renewed its 603,605-square-foot office at the building between West 55th and West 56th streets, often referred to as Random House Tower, in 2016, as CO previously reported.
That came before Penguin started to reshuffle its office portfolio. In 2019, it shuttered its SoHo offices at 345 and 375 Hudson Street to consolidate all of its roughly 2,400 employees under the 52-story Midtown tower’s roof, CO reported. Since then, the publisher has faced some struggles — including a failed bid to buy a rival that cost it $200 million — which led to a new CEO who laid off about 60 people as part of a cost-cutting effort, the New York Times reported.
It’s unclear if Penguin is looking to offload more of its 1745 Broadway office space.
Knobbe Martens, which also has offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., will join other tenants at 1745 Broadway such as Capital One Bank and website designer Good Problems Entertainment.
Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.
