Norman Jemal On How Douglas Signed Uline Arena's First Office Tenant

Before the storm hit on Friday, Douglas Development Co announced it had signed Spaces, a creative co-working concept owned by Dutch firm Regus, to occupy 44k SF in its redevelopment of Uline Arena in NoMa. 

Spaces will have the whole second floor of, as JLL managing director Evan Behr calls it, the "once-in-a-lifetime office space." The office space has a 40x40 column grid and up to 18-foot ceilings, Douglas principal Norman Jemal (snapped above on the right next to his brother, Matthew) told Bisnow on Friday.

He says the firm showed Spaces a few other opportunities around town, but once the firm saw the NoMa building, they went nuts.

Despite its appearance of being far from completion, Uline Arena is on track to open in September, Norman tells us. And Spaces plans to be there on Day 1, walking through the lobby, transformed from the box office of the former venue that hosted The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan.

REI is already signed to bring a 50k SF flagship store to the main area where the concert venue used to be. Davis Construction will turn over the space to the outdoorsy retailer this summer.

That leaves about 150k SF of office left to lease, and because of the column spacing, ceiling height and history of the building, Norman and Evan expect to see more deals close in the not-too-distant future.

"We will have folks that fall in love with it and know they want to be there," Evan told us this morning. "It’s inspiring real estate."

"If you're looking for the cheapest space," Norman says, "don't go to our building."