GFI Group has renewed and expanded its lease at 55 Water Street in Downtown Manhattan. The brokerage services firm will continue occupying the entire 10th floor, totaling 64,000 square feet, and has added another 65,000 square feet on the 11th floor. This expansion will allow GFI to consolidate its operations from its separate space at 199 Water Street.
The company, which was acquired by Howard Lutnick’s GFI Group in 2015, has been a tenant at the Class A building since 2007. The property is one of the largest office buildings in New York City with approximately four million square feet of space. According to reports from the New York Post, the asking rent for this deal was $59 per square foot.
CBRE’s Howard Fiddle, Bradley Gerla, Evan Haskell and William Hooks represented the landlord, Retirement Systems of Alabama. Jared Horowitz and Hal Stein from Newmark acted on behalf of GFI.
This year has seen several significant leases signed at 55 Water Street. In April, MetTel expanded to occupy 69,000 square feet; Jaros, Baum & Bolles leased 68,000 square feet in June; and Verra Mobility took a sublease for 57,000 square feet from EmblemHealth in October.
Leasing activity in Downtown Manhattan is showing signs of recovery after setbacks during the pandemic. Through October this year, leasing activity reached 3.7 million square feet—an increase of nearly 89 percent compared to last year—and net absorption for October was recorded at 254,000 square feet. The total net absorption for the year so far stands at about 1.45 million square feet.
