Elon Musk's X Finds Subtenant For Part Of Chelsea Office
The social media company formerly known as Twitter has found a tenant for part of its Chelsea office after a nearly yearlong search.
X Corp. has landed a fintech company to sublease more than 35K SF across the entire fourth floor of 245-249 W. 17th St. in Chelsea, according to CBRE, which represented the Elon Musk-owned company in the deal.
MoneyLion's move is a bit of good news for the building, which has been in the headlines for the headaches it has given its owner, Pimco subsidiary Columbia Property Trust. The building is part of a 2.7M SF portfolio tied to a $1.7B CMBS loan, on which the landlord reportedly defaulted last year.
Moody's downgraded the credit rating on two pieces of that loan in September, citing challenges with 245-249 W. 17th. At the time, X wasn't paying rent, and another tenant in the building, First Republic Bank, went dark after it was seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
X is on the hook for 76% of the 281K SF property, according to Moody's. It put 200K SF of its property on the sublease market in March, and MoneyLion appears to be the first subtenant it has secured for the property. A CBRE spokesperson didn't respond to Bisnow's request for comment.
Available sublease space in Manhattan hit a 15-year high last March, but that has begun to shrink. There was 20.1M SF on the sublease market at the end of 2023, down 6% from the end of 2022, according to Savills. Overall availability in Manhattan is still near an all-time high of 91.2M SF, or 19.5% of the borough's inventory.
