Justworks Moves Headquarters Downtown As It Continues Rapid Growth

Human resources tech company Justworks is leaving Chelsea and moving downtown, inking a deal to take 270K SF at 55 Water St.

The company will leave the Starrett-Lehigh Building in the second quarter of next year, and move to the Downtown Manhattan location, according to CBRE. Exact prices in the deal were not disclosed, but the average asking rent in the building is $58 per SF, per a release.

“As we look to support even more growing businesses across the U.S., we will be expanding our team significantly to continue to provide the high-quality experience that customers have come to expect from us,” Justworks founder and CEO Isaac Oates said in the release. “Having gotten our start in Downtown Manhattan seven years ago, we are proud to call 55 Water Street home for the next phase of our journey.”

Justworks signed a 60K SF lease to move to Starrett-Lehigh, owned by RXR Realty, in early 2018. It currently occupies 99K SF at the 2.3M SF, full-block Chelsea building, but will move soon to the building with the most rentable office space in Manhattan in 55 Water. 

Howard Fiddle, Evan Haskell, Brad Gerla, Dave Caperna and Mary Ann Tighe of CBRE represented the landlord, New Water Street Corp., which is a subsidiary of the Retirement Systems of Alabama, in the transaction.

The tenant was represented by Cushman & Wakefield’s Chris Helgesen, Peter Trivelas, Dirk Hrobsky and Gary Ceder.

The 3.6M SF building is one of several in Manhattan with large blocks of space becoming available this year. Around 275K SF was set to become vacant in April of next year, according to Transwestern. EmblemHealth had been negotiating to reduce its lease there, and Justworks was reportedly set to take some of that space, according to a Crain’s New York business report earlier this year.