FGS Global is packing up its Midtown East office for a bigger home near Hudson Yards.
The communications and consulting firm signed a 15-year lease for 80,000 square feet at Penn 2, Vornado Realty Trust’s newly redeveloped office tower above Penn Station, The Real Deal has learned. The firm will occupy the entire 16th floor and part of the 17th floor. Asking rent for the space was $115 per square foot.
FGS is relocating from Vornado’s 909 Third Avenue, where it occupies about 60,000 square feet. The move marks an expansion for the firm, which was recently acquired by private equity giant KKR. The relocation brings FGS closer to its new parent company’s headquarters in Hudson Yards.
This marks another win for Vornado’s bet on the Penn District property, where a $750 million renovation was completed last year. The revamped tower features a new glass curtain wall, terraces and upgraded amenities aimed at attracting blue-chip tenants seeking high-end space near a major mass transit hub.
CBRE’s Michael Liss represented FGS Global in the deal. Vornado was represented in-house by Josh Glick and Jared Silverman, along with a Cushman & Wakefield team led by Josh Kuriloff and Bruce Mosler.
Representatives from Vornado and FGS Global did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The deal comes as the office market shows signs of stabilizing and Manhattan’s Class A towers are quickly filling up. The Penn Station submarket’s vacancy rate was about 19 percent at the end of the third quarter, compared with the borough’s overall rate of 22 percent, according to a Cushman & Wakefield report.
The lease adds to a string of recent deals at Penn 2, as tenants continue to gravitate toward newly renovated properties near mass transit. Verizon inked a 200,000-square-foot lease last summer with plans to move its headquarters to the 1.8 million-square-foot building, formerly known as 2 Penn Plaza. The building is now about 70 percent occupied.
Other tenants include Madison Square Garden’s corporate offices, Major League Soccer and Universal Music Group.
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FGS Global is taking 80,000 square feet at Vornado’s Penn 2. It signed a 15-year lease.
It is moving from Vornado’s 909 Third Avenue and expanding from 60,000 square feet after the firm was recently acquired by KKR.
It is moving to be closer to KKR’s headquarters in Hudson Yards. It will occupy all of the 16th floor and part of the 17th floor.
The asking rent on those floors is $115 per square foot.
CBRE’s Michael Liss represented FGS Global. Vornado’s Josh Glick and Jared Silverman represented the landlord in-house, along with a Cushman & Wakefield team led by Josh Kriloff and Bruce Mosler.
