A Downtown Star is Reborn

An historic presence on the Lower Manhattan skyline since 1932, 30 Broad St. was featured in the 1954 Audrey Hepburn film Sabrina. In between then and now, though, the 47-story tower became a candidate for the kind of comprehensive revitalization that its current ownership undertook after acquiring the leasehold for $130 million in 2016.

In contrast to the neighboring 20 Broad St., which was converted to 521 luxury rental apartments after Metro Loft acquired the leasehold from Vornado Realty Trust, 30 Broad St. has remained an office property. Yet it’s attracting a caliber of tenant that would have been unlikely before Tribeca Associates brought it into the current century.

“This was a building we had our eye on,” Bill Brodsky, co-founder of Tribeca Associates, told Connect Media. “We saw it as an opportunity to convert it into something that was best in class for older office buildings.”

“Best in class” might not have been the first term that came to mind when setting foot in the former Continental Bank Building prior to the repositioning. “The lobby was in terrible shape; the elevators were out of date,” said Brodsky.

The existing lobby was demolished and renovated to include a custom light installation, contemporary artwork by Annica Cuppetelli and Cristobal Mendoz, and an expanded coffee bar. The retrofit also includes the creation of a brand-new central amenities suite and improved, tech-friendly workspaces that positioned the building as a natural fit for innovative and creative firms.

In repositioning the vintage property for its intended tenant base, Tribeca Associates also took a contemporary approach to energy efficiency. As of July 2017, the tower has been converted to 100% Green-e certified wind power. The use of green power has become ubiquitous in new commercial and residential construction, but is far less common on a retrofit basis.

Over the past year, 30 Broad has signed approximately 67,000 square feet of new tenants. These have included Knotel, which provides custom business spaces; JSM Music, a music production and sound design firm; White, Werbel & Fino, an insurance law practice; Amper, an AI music composition company; Fantasy Interactive, a UX and UI design agency; Kaiser, Saurborn & Mair, an employment and litigation law firm; Ovadia, an architecture and interior design firm: and U.S. Adjustment, an insurance claim handler.

Along with the upgrades to the property and the gradual transformation of the Financial District into a 24/7 neighborhood, Brodsky also credited the NKF leasing team at 30 Broad, led by Andrew Peretz, with attracting a Midtown South-like tenant mix. “NKF did a terrific job for us,” he said. “It really worked out quite quickly.”

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