Engineering new Wall St. digs
SUPERSTRUCTURES
Engineers + Architects is heading to the Financial District’s pyramid-topped building at 14 Wall St.
The restoration company has leased the 25th floor of the landmark building at the northwest corner of Nassau Street, which gives it 33,561 square feet.
That floor is occupied by architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, which is moving in April to a building it designed — Silverstein Properties’ Seven World Trade Center.
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill also designed One World Trade Center.
Superstructures is rently located in Rudin Management’s 32 Sixth Ave., aka New York Global Connectivity Center, in Tribeca, where it is nearing the end of a long sublease on part of the 13th floor from Qwest, now known as CenturyLink.
The new asking rent was much higher, and Superstructures needed more space for the growing firm, which boasts 100 architects and engineers.
The company specializes in building “envelopes” — facades and roofs — with a focus on historical structures that are mostly owned by government entities.
John Brierty of Newmark Knight Frank had represented the firm in its earlier move from Union Square to Tribeca.
After recalling the gut renovation needed to f it out its current offices, Superstructures principals — architect David May and engineer Paul Millman — asked Brierty to find them a space occupied by a similar company in the hopes of doing minimal work.
They also needed something near a transportation hub, as their employees are back and forth to hundreds of projects all over the city. And they needed extra space to hold monthly lectures to professionals in their industry.
As luck would have it, before the space was listed, Brierty heard Skidmore, Owings & Merrill was moving, and he began pursuing its offices, which had great finishes.
Designed by Trowbridge and Livingston and completed in 1912, the 1-million-square-foot 14 Wall St. was built for Bankers Trust, which used the top of the building for its logo. Financier J.P. Morgan once resided on the 31st floor,
which later became a restaurant and then was converted back to offices. Now a New York City Landmark, it was the perfect place for Superstructures’ new headquarters.
Negotiations began with 14 Wall’s brokers, the CBRE team of Brad Gerla,
Jonathan Cope and Paul Walker, but those talks eventually stalled.
Two months later, as Brierty was pursuing other options, the brokers were called in for a meeting with 14 Wall’s brokers as well as the building’s owner, Alexander Rovt. With everyone at the table, they quickly cut a deal.
The building’s asking rent was $55 per square foot.
“We have been growing and didn’t want to be constrained in our growth,” says Millman of Superstructures upcoming larger space. “Our people are passionate about what we do: the preservation of the greatest city in the world.”
Direct-to-trade luxury furniture designer Ferrell Mittman has just moved to a new, 3,700-square-foot duplex at 228 E. 58th St. between Second and Third avenues, where it will also offer its Robert A.M. Stern line starting in 2020.
The petite glass building has 2,200 square feet on the ground floor, 1,000 square feet on the second floor, which includes an outdoor patio, and 500 feet in the lower level for storage.
The tenant relocated from the D&D building at 979 Third Ave.
Dean Valentino of ABS Partners represented the company — which has its headquarters in High Point, NC — in the 10-year lease.
Jedd Horn, Nicole Mendelson and Michael Thomas of Colliers International acted on behalf of the ownership. The rent for the building comes to $105 per square foot. Ferrell Mittman has been in business for more than 50 years, manufacturing home furnishings in the southeast and selling directly to designers and the furniture trade. In 2018, Ira Glazer created Design Furniture Holdings as the holding company for the Ferrell Mittman and Avery Boardman brands. DHS also owns the sofa maker Carlyle, which sells to consumers from its space at 1056 Third Ave. at East 62nd Street.