Why B’klyn feels tall
Firm falls in love with Class A tower it designed
THE architecture firm FXFOWLE will be moving its offices to the new building it designed for JEMB Realty at One Willoughby Sq. in Brooklyn.
Currently located in Chelsea, the architects will be housed in 40,000 square feet on the seventh through ninth floors of the 36-story project on Duffield Street.
When completed in 2021, the base of the building will house a new 300-seat school in 87,000 square feet on the second through sixth floors that will have its own entrance on Albee Square West.
To construct the school, the NYC School Construction Authority sold a site to JEMB, which then bought adjacent parcels to accommodate the side-core tower.
The setback on top of the school also enables FXFOWLE to have a sprawling 20-foot-by-150-foot terrace on its seventh floor. It will use this for gatherings and relaxation, but it will also provide a spot to test out plants for green roofs and mock-ups for designs as well as allow the firm to check out materials in natural light.
Now located in an old Garment District-like loft space at 22 W. 19th St., the architects are known for their environmentally friendly designs. Projects include 3 Hudson Blvd., 11 Times Sq. and the green roof at the Javits Convention Center.
The new One Willoughby Sq. will be the first newly built Class A office tower in the borough in many years.
“The more we thought about it, the more it dawned on us that we are the tenants,” said Dan Kaplan of FXFOWLE. “At first, it was a creative enterprise — for instance, if we were occupying the space, what would we want? Then, if we were occupying it, transitioned into, this could be a great home for us.”
Every other floor will have balconies while four “superfloors” have 18-foot-high ceilings and either terraces or loggias — outdoor spaces carved into the building — that will overlook the Willoughby Square Park.
“We wanted to create something with shadow and texture but had a reference to the grit of historical Brooklyn,” explained Kaplan, who didn’t think that the area called for a glass, curtain-wall tower. The tower’s wavy, navyblue brick façade is also an homage to architect Ralph Walker, Kaplan said, and echoes the bricks at the nearby Belltel Lofts. Andrew Weiss of Signature Partners represented FXFOWLE in the 15-year deal. Although a JLL team is hhandling leasing, this transaction was arranged by the building’s developer, Morris Bailey, chairman and founder of JEMB. “We’re very happy at the signing of our lease with FXFOWLE,” said Bailey. Asking rents for the remaining floors start at $65 per square foot. The building is targeted for a 2021 delivery.
The Trump Organization has finally divided an office floor at Trump Tower into pre-built spaces with views and some terraces — and plenty of security.
The company being run by the president’s sons Don
Trump Jr. and Eric Trump along with executive Allen
Weisselberg, is thus activating a popular leasing tactic that appeals to boutique companies.
Because the Trumps are pre-building the offices with upscale fixtures and finishes, it allows the smaller compa-
nies to lease and move in without the drama of design along with the weeks or months of waiting for a build-to-suit office.
Jared Horowitz of Newmark Knight Frank and Jef
frey Lichtenberg of Cushman & Wakefield are representing the Trumps and held a broker party on Dec. 12 to show off the new spaces. The Trump brothers and Weissel- berg attended the party and raffled off visits to the Trump Las Vegas and Trump National Doral.
As we wrote a year ago, if the 17th floor of 14,972 square feet wasn’t immediately leased, it was going to be divided into three “crisply modern” pre-builts of roughly 4,400 to 5,000 square feet each.