Skanska Signs 20K-SF Lease for Office Near Project in Long Island City
By Mark Hallum June 12, 2024 11:25 am
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Skanska USA has signed a 20,000-square-foot lease for an office in Long Island City, Queens.
The global construction firm took the entire second floor of the Kaufman Organization and True North’s 21-01 51st Avenue for a term of three years with asking rent starting at $42 per square foot, according to the landlords.
The office will serve as a satellite administrative center for a project Skanska is working on nearby, but the development firm declined to provide further information about the project pending client approval.
The circumstances reflect that of another lease signed by Skanksa in May for 15,300 square feet of prebuilt space on the fifth floor of Building 2 in Industry City while it helps turn the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal into an offshore wind facility for Equinor and BP.
“Across Manhattan and the outer boroughs there has been an increase in the demand for infrastructure projects and move-in-ready space when companies are looking for office space,” Grant Greenspan, a Kaufman principal, said in a statement. “This trend reflects an ongoing need for modern, fully equipped work environments that can support the evolving needs of businesses.”
Greenspan represented the landlords in-house while Jonathan Stravitz of BIOC Commercial Real Estate negotiated on behalf of Skanska.
“We were involved with the ground-floor tenant of this building, Ann Sacks, so we knew the building, knew Kaufman, and wanted to do another deal with them, and it turned out to be a great decision, because everybody won,” Stravitz told Commercial Observer. (Ann Sacks is a tile and stone vendor.) “We took a one-third-occupied building and now it’s almost fully leased, which is a home run for Kaufman.”
Also known as the Cardinal Building, the 65,000-square-foot industrial property in the Hunters Point section of Long Island City was acquired by the landlords through a 99-year ground lease in 2018. A renovation initiated in 2019 transformed it into offices.
Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.
