An Australian-backed cricket company just signed a 15-year lease for an entire floor of a Midtown Manhattan office tower, betting that New York is ready for a 24/7, tech-driven training facility built around the sport. Century Cricket Centre will occupy the fourth floor at 25 West 39th Street, a 14,000-square-foot space near Bryant Park, marking the company's first U.S. location.
The deal was arranged by Lee & Associates NYC, according to New York Real Estate Journal. Broker Josh Lebowitz, who represented Century Cricket Centre in the transaction, said the company saw an opportunity to bring cricket to New York and other U.S. markets, and he described Bryant Park as an ideal place to introduce the brand. Lebowitz also noted that cricket has an enormous global following but very little penetration in the U.S. so far. Brad Schwartz likewise represented Century Cricket Centre in the deal, while Thomas Capuano represented landlord Thor Equities.
A Historic Tower's Latest Tenant
The building itself carries a considerable backstory. Constructed in 1907 with a $1.5 million gift from industrialist Andrew Carnegie as the Engineering Societies' Building, the 16-story tower once held a 1,000-seat auditorium and one of the world's largest engineering libraries, according to Mann Publications. Its early membership included figures tied to engineering and innovation associated with Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla, per the same account, before the property converted to commercial offices in 1961.
Thor Equities bought the 208,000-square-foot building in 2006 for $82.4 million from The Chetrit Group and once used it as its own corporate headquarters, according to CommercialCafe. The fourth floor Century Cricket Centre is moving into previously housed luxury fashion house Halston under a 2017 lease and, more recently, technology creative collective Tin Drum under a 2024 lease, as reported by GlobeNewswire, which noted Thor Equities had reached full occupancy at the property following the Tin Drum deal. A squash club currently operates on the building's fifth floor, per New York Real Estate Journal.
Ponting Joins as Global Ambassador
Days before the lease became public, former Australian national cricket captain Ricky Ponting announced he had joined Century Cricket as an investor, global advisor for coaching and talent identification programs, and lead ambassador for its North American expansion, according to the Hindustan Times. Ponting played international cricket for 17 years and captained Australia to multiple World Cup titles, giving the venture's U.S. debut an unusual amount of star power for a sport still building its American footprint.
Century Cricket Group, the Australian parent company, was co-founded by healthcare executive Stuart Giles, former Australian cricket star Ian Healy, and commentator Mark Nicholas, along with Australian Cricket Institute founders Nick Fitzpatrick and Joel Hamilton, per the company's own materials. The group already runs an integrated ecosystem of youth coaching clinics, competitive leagues, and indoor training centers, and it launched its Century Cricket concept in Australia in early 2023 specifically to solve weather and venue accessibility problems for regular training, according to a listing for the New York launch event on America Josh.
What the Space Will Offer
The Midtown facility is designed to run on a 24/7 membership model, with app-booked hitting lanes, key-fob access, StanceBeam ball-tracking technology, motion analytics, and automated bowling machines, per the same event listing. Century Cricket Centre will combine indoor batting facilities with interactive technology, aiming to make the sport more accessible to experienced players and newcomers alike, according to New York Real Estate Journal. The new location is expected to open within a few months.
Company representatives are targeting U.S. markets with strong existing interest in cricket, and they've indicated the New York opening is just the start: Century Cricket Centre could open as many as 30 locations across the U.S. in the coming years, per the same report. Cricket remains one of the most popular sports in the world, with a particularly large following across South Asia, Australia, the United Kingdom and other international markets, the outlet noted, even as its U.S. footprint stays comparatively small.
Riding a Local Cricket Wave
The Manhattan bet doesn't arrive in a vacuum. Regional interest in cricket got a major jolt in June 2024 when the ICC Men's T20 World Cup built a temporary 34,000-seat modular stadium at Eisenhower Park in Nassau County, Long Island, hosting eight tournament matches including a marquee India-versus-Pakistan game, according to FOX 5 New York.
Professional cricket's finances have been climbing too. American Cricket Enterprises, the parent company of Major League Cricket, reported in September 2025 that its cumulative capital investment in U.S. cricket had surpassed $150 million, with season-three ticket sales rising 53% year-over-year, according to Major League Cricket. That league, which includes the MI New York franchise, debuted in 2023 with six teams. Looking further ahead, Twenty20 cricket is scheduled to make its official return to the Olympic Games at the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games at the Pomona Fairgrounds, marking the sport's first Olympic appearance since 1900, as Hoodline previously reported.
New York City itself has been building out cricket infrastructure on the public side. Queens Borough President Donovan Richards led a $7.7 million project announced in the spring to build a track and the city's first public school cricket field at Jamaica High School, a development Hoodline covered in April. Between that municipal investment and Century Cricket Centre's private, tech-forward bet near Bryant Park, the sport's foothold in the city looks set to expand from two very different directions at once.
