Media Firm Splashes Cash for Equinox Sublease

mergermarket, a media company tightly focused on corporate mergers and acquisitions, has subleased 14,000 s/f of lavish office space, the entire fourth floor at 895 Broadway, between East 19th and East 20th Streets, from Mad River Post, a post-production company.

Details of the deal are not being disclosed, but the sublessor had been asking $35 per square foot for the space, for an approximate annual rent of $490,000, report the brokers who represented Mad River Post in the deal, Bruce Sinder and Christopher Owles, president and managing director of Sinvin Realty Corp., respectively. mergermarket’s broker was Garrett Bowden of Affirmative Equities.

“The price is comparable to what a tenant would pay for similar space in a direct deal with the landlord for a longer term,” says Sinder. “The original lease from 1998 is for 10 years.”

Added Owles, “mergermarket is growing rapidly. Since that makes it difficult to predict their exact space needs several years down the road, they decided our sublease would give them excellent flexibility.”

This spectacular space has 14-foot ceilings, two rows of Corinthian columns, 10-foot-high windows that overlook Broadway, and an attended lobby. mergermarket does not require an extensive buildout, which will allow the firm to begin their operations in the new space right away.

The 85 year-old, six-story building, owned by 895 Broadway LLC, was originally Lord & Taylor’s flagship store. It is now known as the Equinox building because of the ground floor gym and corporate offices on the second and third floors.