Elliott Associates, a hedge fund, has completed a lease for roughly 75,000 square feet at 40 West 57th Street.
According to sources with knowledge of the deal, the space will allow Elliott room to expand while spreading its operations between fewer floors than in its existing location.
The firm currently has its offices on five floors in the high-end midtown office tower 712 Fifth Avenue. While the building is considered a prestigious location, laden with amenities that cater to financial firms and other wealthy tenants, its smaller floor sizes are ideally geared to boutique-sized companies.
The building is a favorite of tenants like private equity firms and hedge funds, which often have a limited roster of employees and therefore modest space requirements.
But for those that do grow, 712 Fifth and others like it can be gateways to the handful of larger luxury towers in midtown that offer both bigger floors and the same sense of exclusivity; buildings like 40 West 57th Street, the General Motors Building, 9 West 57th Street, One Bryant Park and 399 Park Avenue.
A person with knowledge of the deal who is also familiar with the operations of tenants involved in the investment industry said there are functional advantages to being located on fewer floors because contiguous space facilitates “workflow and communication.”
Elliott will occupy floors 5, 30 and 31 and pay rents that average in the $70s per square foot at 40 West 57th Street. In order to get the deal done, the building’s landlord, the LeFrak Organization, reached an agreement with another tenant, the business advisory group AlixPartners, to relocate operations it has on the 30th floor to 27, a move it agreed to because the new space will still be joined to its main floors on 28 and 29.
A team from the brokerage firm Newmark Knight Frank led by one of the company’s executives Neil Goldmacher represented Elliott in the deal. A team from CB Richard Ellis led Howard Fiddle, an executive at the company, represents the LeFrak Organization at 40 West 57th Street. Neither broker was available for comment.
Real Estate Weekly first reported that Elliott was in talks to do a deal at 40 West 57th Street in March.