Tech Firm Palantir Moves From WeWork to Direct Deal at 620 Avenue of the Americas
By Abigail Nehring May 14, 2024 8:45 pm
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Data analytics and intelligence firm Palantir Technologies is embracing life after WeWork (WE) at 620 Avenue of the Americas.
Palantir inked a direct deal last month with landlord RXR to renew its 140,345 square feet at the landmarked Chelsea building, according to a source with knowledge of the deal and a market report by Colliers.
A spokesperson for Palantir did not immediately respond to a request for comment. RXR declined to comment.
The length of the lease and other terms of the deal are unclear, but a recent deal in the building had an asking rent of more than $100 per square foot, as Commercial Observer previously reported.
WeWork set up shop in the seven-story Beaux Arts building in 2019, leasing 212,387 square feet across the entire third, sixth and seventh floors. The coworking giant later signed over its entire footprint at the property to Palantir and banking app Current, as part of its push to provide private offices to larger companies, which it calls “enterprise clients.”
Both Current and Palantir have now transitioned to direct deals to stay put at the property after WeWork’s November bankruptcy, as CO previously reported.
A little foresight helped make that happen since it wasn’t exactly a curveball when the coworking company filed for bankruptcy last year, according to RXR Chairman and CEO Scott Rechler.
“We were pretty constructive early on,” Rechler said in an interview after being named to Commercial Observer’s 2024 Power 100 list. “On the eve of them filing for bankruptcy, we made this universal deal with them which then gave us the ability to go directly to tenants that were in their spaces.”
It took about eight months to get the deal with Palantir to the finish line, the source said, but the decision spared at least one of RXR’s properties from the shockwaves that WeWork’s bankruptcy sent through the New York office market.
RXR wasn’t so lucky at 75 Rockefeller Plaza, where WeWork has sought permission to reject its lease, according to U.S. Bankruptcy Court records.
Newmark (NMRK)’s Michael Morris and Raise Commercial Real Estate’s Michael Iino co-brokered the deal for Palantir. It’s unclear who handled it for RXR. Morris did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and a spokesperson for Raise declined to comment.
Update: This story has been updated to show that Raise’s Michael Iino worked on the deal for Palantir.
With additional reporting by Nicholas Rizzi
Abigail Nehring can be reached at anehring@commercialobserver.com.
