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Related, LargaVista break ground on 300 Lafayette, a boutique SoHo office, retail building

Landmark green building 1st new Class A office complex in district in 100+ years; unique design offers more than 12,000 square feet of outdoor space.

Related Companies and LargaVista Companies announced that they have broken ground on 300 Lafayette Street, a new, 80,000-square-foot, mixed-use boutique office and retail building that offers nearly 50,000 square feet of office space on the top floors and 30,000 square feet of flagship retail space. The fully capitalized, seven-story development features floor-to-ceiling glazing set in terra-cotta and limestone frames, and is the first new Class A office building in the SoHo district in more than 100 years.

“We have had tremendous success developing market-leading office space throughout Manhattan, most recently at Hudson Yards,” said Jeff Blau, CEO of Related Companies. “It has been more than a century since anyone has undertaken the development of a new ground-up office building in SoHo. The neighborhood is ripe for a new generation of office and retail space that puts green space and sustainability at the forefront of the design, and we have already received a great amount of interest from commercial tenants.”

“Owing to its location at the primary gateway to SoHo, in addition to its beautiful design, 300 Lafayette Street will be a stunning addition to the neighborhood,” added Marcello Porcelli, CEO of LargaVista. Related and LargaVista have commenced demolition work on the site, which boasts 300 feet of frontage on Crosby Street, Lafayette Street and East Houston Street. Construction will be complete in early 2018.

JLL was selected by Related and LargaVista to serve as exclusive leasing agent for both the office and retail space at 300 Lafayette Street. The team leasing the office space will be led by Peter Riguardi, chairman of the New York region, and Clark Finney, senior vice president, and includes David Kleiner and Steven Rotter, managing directors, and Benjamin Bass, vice president. Patrick Smith, vice chairman of retail brokerage in New York, will oversee the team handling JLL’s retail leasing efforts. Both groups will work closely with Avi Kollenscher, senior vice president of Related, and Adam Good, COO of LargaVista.

“There is no other office building in Manhattan that was designed from the outset to promote a healthy lifestyle and a strong connection to the outdoors,” said Peter Riguardi, chairman of the New York region. “Not only will 300 Lafayette Street offer the highest quality office space, the glass-enclosed building boasts expansive views of SoHo and easy access to the wealth of restaurants, retail, transportation and cultural events the neighborhood is famous for.” The building includes 10,200 square feet of retail lower level space, 8,900 square feet of retail space on the ground floor and 9,800 square feet of retail space on the second floor, with the third floor through the seventh floor offering a total of nearly 50,000 square feet of trophy office space. The boutique office portion of the building will include a separate lobby from the flagship retail space.

The building owners plan to meet U.S. Green Building Council standards for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver certification for 300 Lafayette Street. The building was designed by Rick Cook, partner with COOKFOX Architects, who envisioned one of the most unique new office buildings New York has witnessed in many years. Cook created an office environment that features at least 2,300 square feet of usable outdoor space on each office floor. The terraces will be landscaped with native species and are a critical component of the overall design.

In total, the building offers 12,025 square feet of usable outdoor space, equal to approximately 25 percent of the building’s office area. Office suites include indoor/outdoor fireplaces and incorporate technology from Nana Wall Systems Inc. that allows the glass walls between the office and outdoor space to fold open.

“We designed a building that would connect people with nature in a tangible way to create the healthiest, high-performance workplace in SoHo,” said Rick Cook, partner with COOKFOX Architects. “The office spaces have been designed to allow as much daylight as possible and direct access to green terraces with native plantings on every floor.”

JLL is a leader in the New York tri-state commercial real estate market, with more than 2,300 of the most recognized industry experts offering brokerage, capital markets, property/facilities management, consulting and project and development services. In 2015, the New York tri-state team completed approximately 32.6 million square feet of lease transactions; arranged investment sales, notes, debt and equity transactions valued at more than $8.2 billion; managed projects valued at $7.8 billion; and oversaw a property management, facilities management and agency leasing portfolio exceeding 141 million square feet.

300 Lafayette Exterior ©Related-LargaVista

**For additional renderings in high resolution, please email [email protected].

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About Related:
Related Companies is the most prominent privately-owned real estate firm in the United States. Formed over 40 years ago, Related is a fully-integrated, highly diversified industry leader with experience in virtually every aspect of development, acquisitions, management, finance, marketing and sales. Headquartered in New York City, Related has offices and major developments in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, South Florida, Washington D.C., Abu Dhabi, London, São Paolo and Shanghai and an existing portfolio of real estate assets, valued at over $20 billion, made up of best-in-class mixed-use, residential, retail, office, trade show and affordable properties. For more information of Related, please visit www.related.com.

About LargaVista Companies:
LargaVista Companies is a second-generation real estate development, investment and management firm based in New York City. LargaVista means “long view” in Spanish. This characterizes LargaVista’s approach to property acquisition and development while also paying tribute to the company’s Latin American roots. LargaVista specializes in the development of under-utilized or environmentally impacted properties, redeploying these assets for higher and better uses. Originally known as Gaseteria, the company started in 1973 developing gasoline stations and grew to become the largest independent petroleum retailer in the New York metro area under the iconic Gaseteria brand. At the turn of the century, LargaVista shifted its focus from operations to real estate development in order to maximize its extremely valuable portfolio of prime locations. LargaVista owns over 60 parcels of real estate throughout the five boroughs of New York City constituting over three million developable square feet. In addition, LargaVista has select investments in Florida and California.

About JLL:
JLL (NYSE: JLL) is a professional services and investment management firm offering specialized real estate services to clients seeking increased value by owning, occupying and investing in real estate. A Fortune 500 company with annual fee revenue of $5.2 billion and gross revenue of $6.0 billion, JLL has more than 230 corporate offices, operates in more than 80 countries and has a global workforce of more than 60,000. On behalf of its clients, the firm provides management and real estate outsourcing services for a property portfolio of 4.0 billion square feet and completed $138 billion in sales, acquisitions and finance transactions in 2015. Its investment management business, LaSalle Investment Management, has $56.4 billion of real estate assets under management. JLL is the brand name, and a registered trademark, of Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated. For further information, visit www.jll.com.

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