HDR Engineering is stacking its chips in Midtown, grabbing three full floors at 7 Penn Plaza and bumping its New York footprint to roughly 74,000 square feet. The move is another lease win for the Feil Organization, which has been rolling out a package of upgrades, including a tenant rooftop lounge and a modernized lobby, to keep the 18-story tower in the hunt. More quietly, the deal also speaks to a broader trend: rather than tearing older Midtown buildings down, owners are leaning on amenities and renovations to lure tenants back in.
HDR Signs For Three Floors
HDR Engineering has inked a lease for about 74,000 square feet across three full floors at 7 Penn Plaza, according to the New York Post. The firm is relocating from 500 Seventh Avenue, where it previously occupied roughly 63,000 square feet and still lists that address in public procurement documents, according to the City University of New York. JLL represented HDR on the deal, while Feil's in-house leasing team, led by Andrew Wiener and Kyle Young, handled the landlord side. The Post also reported that the asking rent for the space was around $70 per square foot.
Building Upgrades And Size
The tower at 370 Seventh Avenue is listed at about 368,000 rentable square feet, and property marketing materials highlight a new roof deck and tenant amenities being added as part of a capital improvement program, per Noah & Co. MdeAS Architects, the firm behind the upgrades, has outlined plans to modernize the lobby and carve out a rooftop terrace for tenants, aiming to position the building for larger, more modern office users. Those physical investments give Feil added leverage when it comes time to negotiate longer and larger leases in Midtown's crowded office market.
Feil's Leasing Push
The HDR lease comes on the heels of a flurry of other sizable plays by Feil. Robin Hood recently committed to a 53,000-square-foot, 30-year lease at 841 Broadway, while MiQ Digital expanded by roughly 42,000 square feet at 261 Fifth Avenue, according to Traded. Taken together, these long-term and large-scale deals sketch out Feil's strategy: lock in stable, creditworthy occupants while simultaneously upgrading building amenities. For landlords, landing a mix of engineering firms, nonprofits and tech tenants helps diversify the rent roll and lower vacancy risk.
Why It Matters
For Midtown workers and neighbors, HDR's signing is a concrete signal that owners are increasingly using amenity upgrades and tailored lease terms to pull bigger tenants into older towers. The blend of long-term commitments, a refreshed lobby and a usable roof deck gives 7 Penn Plaza a cleaner pitch to companies weighing multiple Midtown options, as coverage of Feil's recent deals in outlets such as Commercial Observer has noted. Brokers say that pairing extended lease terms with new perks has become a go-to play for value-add owners across Manhattan.
