| cached/copied 09-10-11 for original link click here - http://www.rys2sense.com/anti-neocons/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=6098&start=0 Real Estate Watch: Shipper sights land on Staten Island; Zim building office for displaced staff; engineering firm stays downtown.(Moves to Staten Island, escaped the Islamic terrorist attack on WTO) Crain's New York Business Nov. 19, 2001, p. 7 by Lore Croghan Zim-american israeli shipping Co. made a big move out of the World Trade Center to Norfolk Va., just one week before the complex was destroyed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. But the firm left behind a sales and marketing department of 35 people, in order to maintain a presence in New York City. Fortunately, the entire staff made it out of Zim's 1 World Trade Center office alive. Now the company is building a new office for them on Staten Island. The shipping firm signed a 10-year lease for 5,000 square feet at 1000 South Ave., in an office complex called the Corporate Park of Staten Island. The asking rent was in the low $20s per square foot. The building is located in an empowerment zone, which means Zim gets city tax breaks that will cut its cost of occupancy by 8% to 12%. Zim chose this Staten Island site as its new home because it will afford the sales staff quick access to customers in the ports of both New York and New Jersey - and because the price was right, says James Pirot, a principal at Hunter Management Corp. Zim felt that downtown Manhattan rents were too high and that many Jersey locations it looked at were too far away. Mr. Pirot represented Zim in lease negotiations with the owner of 1000 South Ave., The Nicotra Organization. Mr. Pirot is also overseeing the construction of the new office. The work is scheduled for completion in mid-January. Until then, the sales department is housed temporarily in Zim's Port Elizabeth, N.J., office. |