Real Estate Weekly August 13, 2009 ARAGON COMPLETES BUILT-OUT FOR NON-PROFIT GROUP

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A NEW YORK CITY Aragon Construction has just completed building a 13,000 s/f office space for the Forward Association, a nonprofit Jewish organization that publishes The Forward, America’s most influential Jewish weekly newspaper.

The office suite at 125 Maiden Lane, a 17-story office building in downtown Manhattan, encompasses much of the building's 8th floor.

Aragon built a new executive office wing with private offices, open department areas, conference rooms, informal meeting areas, a reception area, and a broadcast space for video, podcast, and other digital production. The striking space also features a gallery/Performance space.

The construction form paid special attention to the installation of a broad range of materials and surfaces specified by Amie Gross Architects, which used the visual language of the Wiener Werkstaette as a primary inspiration. The palette, for example, is in keeping with those used during the time of the Wiener Werkstaette. Materials include marble floors, custom wood doors, several different patterns and colors of carpets, specialty paints, and laser-cut wall panels. The installation also included “borrowed lighting” from internal windows that allow daylight to permeate the office core.

“By working collaboratively,” said Aragon President and Founder, Alex Getelman, “the teams were able to make this highly conceptual space into a beautiful and functional reality.”

The site is specifically designed to be conductive to coordination and collaboration across its various departments of the English and Yiddish website, the jewishdailyforward.ocm

“We designed one-of-a-kind group work areas, respecting each department's unique requirements, without using a single generic pattern or layout throughout the entire office space," said Amie Gross AlA, founder and principal at Amie Gross Architects.

Aragon also renovated a 5,000 slf office or a sublease tenant for the short term; it will enable the Forward Association to expand its operations in the future.

"We were grateful to Aragon for their speed in producing a project of this size and dimension within budget," said Jaime Birman of Levien & Company, Inc., the owner's representative.