The handsome former Textile Building at 295 Fifth Ave., a century-old monument to the city’s golden age of apparel-making, will soon sport a two-story penthouse addition — among other major changes to prepare the Midtown South property for new life as an wellness- and environmentally-attuned office building.
The penthouse — plus a ground-floor courtyard, several terraces and hospitality amenities — are part of a $350 million redevelopment by the building’s new owners, Tribeca Investment Group (TIG), PGIM Real Estate and Meadow Partners. They bought a 99-year leasehold in 2019 for $375 million.
TIG is tapping its expertise as developer of hotels — Midtown’s Baccarat and the FiDi Moxy — to help create what TIG founding principal Elliott Ingerman calls a “talent playground for large corporations to draw and retain talent.”
The now-vacant, full-blockfront building was home to textile industry firms as recently as two years ago. It will be open to new tenants in the third quarter of 2022.
The owners have 700,000 square feet to fill in a depressed market. But they’re counting on a post-pandemic revival, as well as a central Midtown South location within walking distance of both Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal, to justify their total $725 million investment.
“We feel very good about our basis,” a confident Ingerman said.
The 34,000-square-foot penthouse designed by Studios Architecture will boast floor-to-ceiling windows shaped to echo the ground-floor, Neoclassical-style archways. The greenery-filled lobby will have a café, a library and direct access to a rear courtyard — among other new elements to provide fresh air — that was previously used as a loading area.
Floor plates of 44,000 square feet on floors 1-16, and a smaller 17th floor with a wraparound terrace, should appeal to “larger tenants who want larger blocks,” Ingerman said. Floors feature slab-to-slab ceiling heights from 12 to 17 feet, exposed steel columns with rivets and new windows.
“A lot of technology tenants are looking for this type of space, and now, so are the banks,” he said.
Asking rents will run from $95 a square foot at the base to $135 psf in the penthouse. A CBRE team led by Peter Turchin is handling leasing. The property is “unlike anything else on the market today,” Turchin said.
Empire State Realty Trust has signed two new office leases totaling more than 60,000 square feet within a block of one another.
Burlington Stores is nearly doubling its space at 1400 Broadway, adding 33,125 square feet on the 11th floor to the 35,182 sf it already has. The asking rent was $72 per square foot.
The publicly traded retailer’s executive vice president, Gayle Aertker, said, “As Burlington continues to grow, we appreciate ESRT’s partnership allowing us to invest further in our merchandising team.”
Meanwhile, Zentalis Pharmaceuticals is a new tenant at 1359 Broadway. The clinical-stage biopharmaceutical firm is taking 31,362 sf. The ask was $73 psf.
Zentalis CEO Dr. Anthony Sun said, “We are committed to ensuring our employees’ safety and well-being, and our new corporate office space will provide a healthy and productive work environment to help bring our innovative cancer treatment to patients.
Buddy’s Dog Den, which calls itself “Brooklyn’s Urban Dog Retreat” at its eight-year Williamsburg location, is expanding to Manhattan. The provider of “home-like” pooch pampering will open in May at 1105 First Ave. near East 61st Street.
Its 4,000 square feet on two levels will include dog runs as well as extensive grooming services. The ground-floor asking rent was $110 per square foot.
The lease was arranged by Lee & Associates. The firm’s Richard Kave said, “I’ve been helping Buddy’s owner Lynne-Marie Paquette find a Manhattan location for more than three years.”
Kave repped the tenant. Winick Realty Group’s Hal Shapiro represented the landlord. The brokers worked together 15 years ago when Kave brought Running Paws Athletic Club to the same First Avenue location. Running Paws was later acquired by AKC Canine Retreat, the most recent tenant in the space.
“What makes this deal particularly sweet,” Kave added, “is that Lynne-Marie expects to be able to rehire two or three former employees who she had to furlough at the Brooklyn location due to COVID-19 and a downturn in her business.”