Non-Profit Renews Lease in Blazing Meatpacking Submarket

August 8, 2008 by jack petrie.

The Office & Professional Employees Union, (“OPEIU”) Local AFL-CIO 153 recently renewed its lease at 80 Eighth Avenue a.k.a. 265 West 14^th Street for an additional ten (10) years. The union has continuously occupied the entire 6^th floor of this property for over fifty years. OPEIU was represented by Jack Petrie of CresaPartners in the lease negotiations.

About 80 Eighth Avenue

80 Eighth Avenue is 1920’s vintage Art Deco building with a detailed facade and ornate marble interior. The property is located on the Northeast corner of 14^th Street and Eighth Avenue, directly over the subway entrance to the A, C, E & L lines. Asking rents are currently $50 per rentable square foot (“rsf”). The building houses several other trade unions including Teamsters Joint Council 16, International Brotherhood Local 72 and Local Unions 858 & 1974.

Trendy Meatpacking Neighborhood

The neighborhood, known as the “Meatpacking” district, has seen rapidly rising rents and low vacancies over the last several years. In 2005, Google leased 300,000 rsf of office space at 111 Eighth Avenue, the former Port Authority Building, currently one of the premier data center locations in Manhattan. Google has also recently expanded its operations into 75 Ninth Avenue, The Chelsea Market, another destination property within the district.

Origins of the Professional Employees Union

In 1906 Local 1 in Indianapolis received the first clerical federal charter issued by the AFL (American Federation of Labor) representing a union for Stenographers, Typists, Bookkeepers and Assistants. However, not until the Wagner Act of 1935 did office worker organizing gain momentum. This critical legislation, which gave workers collective bargaining and organizing rights, propelled thousands of clerical employees into action. Dozens of clerical union charters were formed during this time. In 1936 Mollie Levitas presented the first resolution calling for an international union of office workers at the AFL convention in Tampa. Nine years later the AFL issued a charter to Office Employees International Union (OEIU), with 22,000 members strong, at a convention in Cincinnati.

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