300k of RSF. But, WTF! ¯\(ツ)/¯
From the Annals Essex Crossing
It’s been a hot minute — or given the weather, a cold one — since we last checked in on Essex Crossing.
Longtime More For LES readers will remember our deep dive into its residential footprint:
(I love you. ) Since then, we’ve touched here and there on the commercial side, mostly through Shorts like these:
Today, we’re zeroing in on 145 Delancey Street — the address of Essex Crossing’s office footprint. This is where our story shifts from residences and retail to the world of the workplace.
As described on the property’s website , 145 Delancey offers over 350k Rentable Square Feet (RSF) of office space across multiple floors, including full-floor availabilities, prebuilt suites ranging from 11k to 27k RSF, and layouts that support 60–158 workstations per suite .
The building also features a full tenant amenity center —with conference rooms , lounges , breakout spaces , phone rooms , and a terrace — positioning Essex Crossing as a quasi-Google-like campus-style office environment for teams of varying sizes .
As for marketing, the promotional materials take a fairly simplistic approach, using cliches inviting tenants to come and collaborate, adapt, and innovate.
What does that even mean?
My interpretation — and I’d love to know yours — is that Essex Crossing beckons young founders and youthful companies saying, “Hey, young’uns! You’re already living nearby and biking past. Come! Work where all of the young and cool folks are! (Oh, and they’ve been here for a decade.)” That’s how I read the chart below.
But, it hasn’t worked .
The spaces remain (mostly) vacant. This blight is compounded by the ill fate of the Market Line — which is still featured in marketing materials and maps, re: see the subterranean space here.
Note: The Market Line is closed .
Hilltop Bicycles NYC, which has a location in Williamsburg, is still featured in The Connected Campus map. It’s stuck there as if to say, “Hey, cyclists are welcome!”
The Clinton Street location, though? Closed .
Looking forward , there are a few things that are coming soon (that I haven’t mentioned) that I hope will make things more attractive . And full. And, maybe — hopefully — these “things” can be the start of a turnaround . Because a development this large, this intentional , and this anchored to the Lower East Side needs to offer more than a generic space to “collaborate, adapt, and innovate.”
It must fuel , drive , and sustain change . (Bikers from Williamsburg will always be welcome.)
