FGS Global Takes 80K SF at Vornado’s Penn 2

Stakeholder strategy firm FGS Global is expanding within the Vornado Realty Trust universe with a 15-year lease for 80,000 square feet at the developer’s recently redeveloped Penn 2, which sits directly above Penn Station.

The company will take over the building’s 16th floor and part of the 17th. The asking rent was $115 per square foot. 

FGS Global was represented by CBRE’s Michael Liss, while Vornado was represented in-house by Josh Glick and Jared Silverman, and by a Cushman & Wakefield team led by Josh Kuriloff and Bruce Mosler.

FGS Global currently occupies an office of around 60,000 square feet at Vornado’s 909 Third Avenue.

The Real Deal was first to report the lease.

Investment giant KKR recently acquired a majority stake in FGS Global, purchasing the position previously held by marketing services giant WPP. The purchase of the equity interest left FGS Global’s more than 500 employee shareholders with 26 percent of the company.

Vornado recently gave the 1.62 million-square-foot, 31-story Penn 2, which was originally completed in 1968 and sits on one of the few double-wide blocks in New York City, a massive redevelopment. Upgrades included reskinning the entire building with a new curtain wall; a 430-foot, double-height, column-free addition to the building’s base floors; over 73,000 square feet of outdoor amenity space, including a 17,000-square-foot rooftop park; and a 4,000-square-foot, 280-person auditorium space, according to the company’s website.

Tenants at Penn 2 include the offices of Madison Square Garden, Major League Soccer, Universal Music Group and Verizon. Retail tenants include J.P. Morgan Chase and steakhouse The Dynamo Room. 

Representatives for CBRE did not immediately respond to a request for comment while Vornado, FGS Global, and C&W declined to comment.

Larry Getlen can be reached at lgetlen@commercialobserver.com.