Two Brookfield Buildings Led Lower Manhattan Office Leasing in April
By Emily Davis May 6, 2026 1:04 pm
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Lender Premium Merchant Funding secured Lower Manhattan’s second-largest office lease in April, according to a CBRE office report released Wednesday.
Premium Merchant Funding, a New York-based financial services company founded in 2014, has subleased 46,913 square feet at One New York Plaza, according to the report. The sublandlord is unknown.
The Brookfield Properties-owned office tower at 1 Water Street also hosts New York State’s Office of General Services, Morgan Stanley, sustainable architecture and interior design firm Spacesmith, and the law firm Fried Frank. An $835 million commercial mortgage-backed securities loan on the 50-story tower entered into special servicing in December.
It is unclear whether the tenant or the landlord worked with outside brokers. The length of the sublease and the asking rent were also unknown, but the average office deal in Lower Manhattan averaged $59.62 per square foot in April, according to CBRE.
The Premium Merchant Funding lease was second only to law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton in Lower Manhattan’s April leasing lineup. The law office took 475,000 square feet at Brookfield’s One Liberty Plaza, Commercial Observer reported last week.
Leasing activity in Lower Manhattan totaled 571,000 square feet in April, according to the CBRE report, exceeding the area’s five-year monthly average by 106 percent.
Coworking firm Industrious joined in on deal-making in the Financial District last month, with a reported 26,781-square-foot lease at Rudin’s One Battery Park Plaza. The deal isn’t Industrious’ only portfolio addition this quarter . The coworking firm also secured a 28,000-square-foot swath at Global Holdings Management’s 875 Third Avenue in Midtown East, CO reported Tuesday.
The 35-story tower at One Battery Park Plaza proved popular in April. Architecture firm Woods Bagot also inked a 26,405-square-foot lease at the building, according to CBRE. The firm joins tenants such as the New York City’s Independent Budget Office and law firms Skarzynski Marick & Black and Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani.
CO could not immediately confirm whether any outside brokers worked on the One Battery Park Plaza transactions.
Spokespeople for Premium Merchant Funding, Brookfield, Industrious, Rudin and Woods Bagot did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Emily Davis can be reached at edavis@commercialobserver.com.
