Human Services Organization Rising Ground Takes 27K SF at 111 Livingston Street

Human services organization Rising Ground will move its Downtown Brooklyn office a few blocks west to 111 Livingston Street.

Rising Ground, which supports individuals and families in New York City, has signed a 15-year lease for 27,147 square feet on part of the 19th floor and the entire 20th floor of the 22-story building, according to tenant broker Open Impact Real Estate.

Open Impact declined to provide the specific asking rent in the deal, but said asking rents at the building are just under $50 per square foot. 

Rising Ground will move from its current Brooklyn office at 151 Lawrence Street to the new building in the spring of 2025, Open said.

Open Impact’s Stephen Powers, Lindsay Ornstein, Alexander Smith and Kendall Elliott brokered the deal for the tenant, while landlord The Leser Group was represented in-house.

Leser’s building between Court Street and Boerum Place will be used as Rising Ground’s “multifamily Brooklyn hub” to serve its family and youth support programs, while all of the nonprofit’s administrative staff will work from its 30,000-square-foot Manhattan headquarters at 1333 Broadway, according to Smith.

“111 Livingston Street ensures that Rising Ground can continue its critical work, with a professional space that remains highly accessible for staff and visitors,” Smith said in a statement.

A spokesperson for Rising Ground did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while a spokesperson for Leser could not be reached for comment.

Rising Ground, which has several other offices in the Bronx, Queens and Harlem, plans to continue to shake up its footprint and consolidate additional Bronx locations moving forward, according to Open Impact. The nonprofit’s New York offices are among its 143 locations across the country.

“Over the past year we have invested resources to strengthen our organization and our capacity to deliver the highest quality of services, and this new space will allow us to continue to help Brooklyn children, adults and families rise above adversity and find positive paths forward,” Lissa Southerland, Rising Ground’s chief operating officer, said in a statement.

Other tenants of 111 Livingston Street include The Legal Aid Society, parking garage operator Icon Parking and the State University of New York Brooklyn Educational Opportunity Center.

The deal comes after Leser’s tenants at the building went on a rent strike and filed a lawsuit against the landlord over poor conditions, The Real Deal reported.

In fact, Rising Ground will replace private educator Brooklyn Law School at the property, after the school sued Leser in May 2021 citing safety violations relating to the building’s elevators, according to TRD.

Powers told TRD the property has since received a “major renovation during COVID.”

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.