The Factory

The Challenge:
Historically an industrial waterfront, Long Island City has become a site for luxury residential condominium and rental buildings in recent years, and is now becoming an active office district. Built in 1926 and originally used by Macy’s as a furniture warehouse, The Factory is one of Long Island City’s newest and premier workspaces. A 1.1 million sq. ft. multi-tenanted industrial office and retail building owned by Atlas Capital Group, in partnership with Square Mile Capital and Invesco, the building covers an entire city block from 47th to 48th Avenues and from 31st Street and 30th Place in Queens. After purchasing the building in 2014, Atlas began a $20 million historically sensitive renovation. Upon completion of the renovation, Atlas Capital needed a firm to help implement their long-term leasing strategy, which included leasing its office space to technology, advertising, media and information (TAMI) companies, or like-minded companies and pioneering entrepreneurs looking for an emerging commerce district.

The Results:
With Tarter Krinsky & Drogin’s substantial experience advising both landlords and tenants on commercial leasing transactions, we brought an inherent understanding of the demands from both sides to facilitate optimal negotiations and advance their goals. Since completion of the renovation, our negotiations have led to leasing almost 300,000 rentable sq. ft. of the building to tenants including retailers, an insurance company, technology companies, and other service providers in less than two years. We assisted in leasing 147,000 sq. ft. to Macy’s. As one of the largest Long Island City leases in 2015, Macy’s will house its photography studio and set space at the property. We also assisted in leasing 60,000 sq. ft. of space to clothing brand J. Crew as well as leases with other major retailers. With space yet to lease, our work continues.