By Patrick Hedlund
Where to rent
New York City renters looking for the luxuries of a doorman building Downtown should head for the Lower East Side, where prices for many unit types have fallen precipitously from a month ago.
According to the Real Estate Group New York’s Manhattan rental market report for November, the average rent of all doorman and non-doorman units on the L.E.S. slipped by slightly more than 5 percent since October. The figures include a 14.4 percent decrease for doorman two-bedrooms (currently at $3,908 per month), a 10.2 decrease for doorman one-bedrooms ($2,474) and a 6.7 decrease for doorman studios ($2,152).
Manhattan’s most expensive units remained in Soho and Tribeca, with the former having the most expensive doorman one- and two-bedrooms ($4,885 and $7,833, respectively) and the latter having the most expensive non-doorman studios, one- and two-bedrooms ($3,491, $4,915 and $6,928), as well as the most expensive doorman studios ($2,898).
Noteworthy changes in Tribeca included an 11.9 percent spike in the average rent of non-doorman studios since October (a $372-per-month percent increase) and a 7 percent uptick in the average price of non-doorman one-bedrooms (a $323 increase).
Battery Park City saw a sharp drop in the average price of doorman studios this month, falling 8.46 percent (a $197 decrease), while the Financial District weathered a 6.35 percent slide for non-doorman two bedrooms and a 5.77 percent reduction for non-doorman one-bedrooms.
Other notable month-over-month changes included a 9.2 percent increase in the average rent of Village doorman one-bedrooms; an 8.8 percent jump for East Village doorman one-bedrooms; and 8 and 8.2 increases in average rents for Soho doorman one- and two-bedrooms.
Major drops occurred in the average price of Village doorman two-bedrooms (down 4.94 percent), East Village non-doorman studios (down 5.20 percent) and Soho and non-doorman studios (down 9.61 percent).
World Trade lease
The Web-based foreign exchange trading firm FXDD announced last week it had signed on to sublease 41,000 square feet at 7 World Trade Center.
The space was initially leased by ABN AMRO, which never moved in due to its takeover by the Royal Bank of Scotland, and covers the building’s entire 32nd floor.
The firm inked a 13-year sublease for the column-free office, whose size will help accommodate FXDD’s expansion.
“We couldn’t be happier with the new property,” said Lubomir Kaneti, the company’s COO. “FXDD has grown exponentially in the past couple of years. We need more space to accommodate for our growth.”
Prices at developer Larry Silverstein’s 52-story tower drove up the average asking rents for Lower Manhattan’s top buildings last year. Recent tenants include the advertising firm Arnell Group, which signed a 40,000-square-foot lease for the 31st floor in 2008, and Broadcast Music, which took more than 57,000 square feet this past summer.
Water rentals flowing
The luxury residential high-rise at 200 Water St. is more than halfway leased only a few months after opening near the South St. Seaport.
The 32-story building, which leased units to New York University’s faculty and students for a few years, includes 576 renovated residences at the address between John and Fulton Sts.— 300 of which have been signed for in less than four months.
Rockrose Development Corp., 200 Water St.’s owner and manager since 1997, attributed the brisk pace of rental activity to the size of the building’s apartments—which the developer touted as being 30 percent larger than comparable units in new construction. Monthly rents are priced from $2,165 for studios, $2,875 for one-bedrooms and $3,905 for two-bedrooms, according to Rockrose.
“We see a lot of people coming in from Brooklyn who were paying the same rent for half the space of our studios,” said Kathleen Gargan Scott, vice president of leasing, in a statement, adding that the building’s studios are currently more than 60 percent leased.
The building is also making use of its proximity to P.S. 234, even though tenants are unlikely to be able to go to the treasured Tribeca school. Despite Downtown Express articles the last three weeks about the school getting a smaller zone, apparently developers still see it as a marketing tool.
Among the building’s advantages, according to Rockrose’s press release, is that it is “near great schools.” P.S. 234 was the first school mentioned, and the only public one to make the release, but 200 Water is outside of the P.S. 234 zone for both options that are under consideration.
