Savills Studley Relocates Two NYC Nonprofits Totaling Over 17,000 Square Feet

Savills Studley, the leading commercial real estate services firm specializing in tenant representation, announced today that it has arranged two nonprofit leasing transactions totaling approximately 17,000 square feet in separate transactions across Manhattan.

In the first transaction, the National Development Council (NDC) has signed a 15-year, 11,741-square-foot lease at One Battery Park Plaza, which will serve as its Corporate Headquarters Location. NDC completed its move in April from a 10,045-square-foot space at 708 Third Avenue in Midtown Manhattan.

Savills Studley Executive Vice President Daniel Horowitz, Executive Managing Director Jeffrey Peck and Managing Director Christopher Foerch represented the tenant in the long-term transaction. The landlord, Rudin Management Company, was represented by Kevin Daly in-house.

According to Foerch, NDC has maintained office locations in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood for nearly four decades and initially targeted their search within the Grand Central submarket. After Savills Studley suggested touring downtown alternatives, the nonprofit quickly realized, however, that relocating to lower Manhattan would dramatically increase its ability to reinvest capital into its mission.

“Relocating to One Battery provides The National Development Council a dramatically improved space at a nearly 20 percent cost-savings. Not only will the nonprofit be located in a class A environment, which the landlord built to their exact specifications, the move allows the organization to continue its mission of reinvesting money in low-income communities across the country,” said Foerch.

“Based on Savills Studley’s cost benefit analysis of our Headquarters relocation, we are confident this move is beneficial for our organization,” said Bob Davenport, President of the National Development Council. “Our employees will not only benefit from being in a more updated office space, the new environment will allow increased productivity, to better serve our client communities and support the development and preservation of affordable housing, the creation of jobs through training and small business lending and the advancement of livable communities through investment in social infrastructure.”

Also relocating is Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB), a not-for-profit that has signed a 15-year, 5,468-square-foot lease at 360 Lexington Avenue. The organization, currently situated at 645 Madison Avenue, recently moved into the newly built space.

The new leasing transaction for RPB aligns with the company’s strategy to increase efficiencies and reinvest capital back to its mission of providing major eye research funding to more than 50 leading scientific institutions in the U.S. According to Foerch, the relocation will cut the organization’s costs by nearly 40 percent.

“The general trend of organizations looking to do more with less is here to stay. Nonprofits are especially creative in finding new ways to ensure overhead costs, such as office space, are kept at a minimum so as to ensure the most possible resources are funneled to achieving the business goals,” Foerch said.

The landlord, AEW Capital Management, will provide RPB a turn-key space across the full 23rd floor which includes a large boardroom and efficient layout. AEW was represented by David Hoffman and Whitnee Williams of Cushman & Wakefield. The Savills Studley team of Horowitz, Peck and Foerch represented the tenant.

The Horowitz/Peck team, which includes Chris Foerch, Gary Kerper, and Adam King specializes in representing nonprofits. As a team they understand the nuances that are particular to nonprofit tenants and that every dollar saved in real estate goes towards the respective missions of these important organizations.