Kushner’s Puck Building Plucks NYU Replacement for

Kushner Companies’ Puck Building picked up a new office tenant, set to land next year with 30,000 square feet at the Soho property.

United Kingdom-based hedge fund Quadrature signed a lease at 295 Lafayette Street, the Commercial Observer reported. The 10-year deal marks the hedge fund’s first office in the United States. The asking rent for the space was $135 per square foot.

Quadrature will partially replace New York University after its lease on the space for its Wagner Graduate School of Public Service expires in the middle of next year. The school is moving to three floors at 105 East 17th Street.

JLL’s Justin Haber represented the tenant in the transaction, while CBRE’s Sacha Zarba and Jeffrey Fischer were among those to represent Kushner.

Office space accounts for seven floors at the Puck Building. Other office tenants include Cadre, Plaid and Thrive Capital, according to Kushner’s website. Major Food Groups and REI are retail tenants at the property, the latter taking 35,000 square feet a decade ago to sell its outdoors gear.

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Kushner made waves when it added penthouse condominiums to the top of the property. There are six penthouses at the Romanesque Revival-style building.

Penthouse IV listed last year for $35 million. The unit features 6,000 square feet inside and 2,000 square feet outside, including 12 rooms, four bedrooms and five-and-a-half bathrooms. It doesn’t appear the unit was sold, but the listing is no longer active on Streeteasy. 

Leasing activity in the Manhattan office market increased by 26 percent from the second quarter to the third, according to a report from Colliers, but the surge can be attributed in part to two massive leases. The availability rate remained at 19.4 percent.

— Holden Walter-Warner