Savills Completes Seven Transactions for Bronx-Based Occupiers Over 18 Month Period

NEW YORK (January, 23 2023) – Over an 18-month period, a Savills team led by David Carlos, executive managing director and co-head of the firm’s Nonprofit Advisory Practice for New York, represented Bronx-based organizations in six leases and a $22 million purchase.

Carlos’ team, which includes Managing Director Andrew Dzenis, Loraine Clamens and Rekha Pednekar represented six organizations, all with unique missions serving various constituencies, on the following transactions:

• KIPP Charter Schools: KIPP completed a $22 million purchase of a 33,640-square-foot development site where a new 160,000 square foot high school will be built in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx. Simultaneously, Carlos and his team negotiated a long-term lease at a brand new 72,000-square-foot building, which will be wholly occupied and controlled by KIPP. This space will be utilized as swing space and enable the continued growth of KIPP’s student body.

• Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute (PHI), Cooperative Home Care Associates (CHCA), Independence Care System (ICS): In the summer of 2021, Savills was hired by the three organizations who occupied a combined 50,000 square feet at 400 East Fordham Road to help them develop an occupancy strategy.

Savills performed workplace analysis for each organization and determined that PHI and ICS no longer needed space in the building. The team relocated PHI to a smaller space in Midtown Manhattan and assisted ICS in consolidating into its existing facility in Brooklyn. These cost saving measures were critical to ensuring the long-term stability of the organizations.

CHCA desired to continue its occupancy of approximately 30,000 square feet at the building. However, with uncertainty over future government program reimbursements, Savills was able to negotiate maximum flexibility into the new 10-year lease. CHCA has an option to give back a floor in the near term as well as an option to terminate the lease. This flexibility was paramount to finalizing the transaction and the owner was a good partner in the process.

• The Children’s Village: Savills guided The Children’s Village in its renewal of 25,000-square-foot at 400 East Fordham Road for an additional 10-years. The nonprofit partners with families to help society’s most vulnerable children to become educationally proficient, economically productive, and socially responsible members of their communities. The renewal ensures that the organization’s programs including foster care, aftercare, transformative mentoring and many others, continue to operate out of its longtime home in the Bronx.

• The Bronx Defenders: In spring of 2021, Savills was hired by the Bronx Defenders to assist the organization consolidate operations within closer proximity to the Bronx’s courthouses. While the larger project is ongoing, Savills executed a 13,000-square-foot 10-year lease directly across the street from the Bronx Criminal Court last July. The facility will provide Bronx Defenders’ attorneys with critical trial prep space, staff training rooms and flex space for its mobile staff.

“With only 15 million square feet of office inventory in the Bronx and vacancy at 8 percent, identifying quality office space in the Bronx remains a challenge for neighborhood-based occupiers.,” said Carlos. “Our methodical approach, coupled with our intimate knowledge of the Bronx market, enabled our team to help a diverse group of organizations achieve great results in a supply constrained market with few quality options.”