BY ALESSIA PIROLO

After two years of ambitious renovations, the Atlantic Theater Company’s new season has just kicked off in a redone space. The company, which was founded in 1985 by playwright David Mamet and actor William H. Macy along with 30 of their acting students from New York University, first rented the former parish hall of St. Peters Church on West 20th Street about 20 years ago.

With its current lease expiring in 2039, the company signed off on a project that included significant renovations and the creation of a basement floor. Jon Denham, a principal with Denham Wolf who oversaw the project, reviewed the floor plans with The Commercial Observerand explained how the company was able to double the square footage of the theater by building below.

“They loved the feel of the space, they loved the location, but it was just limited in terms of total space and in terms of basic functions and amenities,” he said late last week. “So from the get-go they had a very clear list of objectives that included improving the experience for the audience, better access and circulation, better lobbies, convenient restrooms.”

To see the furniture plan, click here.

BY JOTHAM SEDERSTROM

» When word began to trickle down last week that a confluence of lingering domestic and international worries were behind a sluggish third quarter of office leasing, few analysts were surprised.

Indeed, amid questions surrounding the international debt crises, this country’s upcoming presidential elections and a fog of property tax and regulatory issues, rather than making big moves, many of the city’s largest corporate tenants have chosen to do nothing at all.

But in Times Square South, Midtown’s third-largest submarket, tech startups and creative professionals continued to flock to the area’s high-ceilinged, big-windowed stock of office buildings, making it one of the few neighborhoods to show third-quarter improvement.

Ken McCarthy, senior economist at Cushman & Wakefield, reviewed the neighborhood’s third-quarter activity with The Commercial Observer and explained why Times Square South did so well.

To see our annotated third-quarter data chart, click here.

BY DANIEL EDWARD ROSEN

Temco Service Industries, a company that provides janitorial, security, and maintenance services to buildings, will be relocating its New York City headquarters to 417 Fifth Avenue from One Park Avenue, The Commercial Observer has learned.

The company will be taking a 22,000-square-foot office on a portion of the 9th floor in the 11-story building. Cushman & Wakefield's David Stockel, Peter Van Duyne, John Picco and Andrew Weisz represented Temco Service Industries.

Roxana Girand of Murray Hill Properties represented 417 Fifth Avenue, the building's landlord.

Mr. Stockel said that Temco Service Industries was occupying 29,000 square feet at One Park Avenue and was looking to shrink its footprint.

"The client [Temco] thought that they had too much space," said Mr. Stockel. The company wanted to go from occupying several floors to just a single floor.

"They wanted to reduce their footprint and reduce their… real estate overhead," he added.

To read the full story, click here.

The November issue of The Mortgage Observer will feature the 20 most promising commercial mortgage brokers under 35 throughout the tristate area--but we need your help determining the best and brightest.

Whether it's thanks to financing volume or the complexity of the assignments they're given, we want to know who's racking up accolades in the mortgage industry, and we want your nominees for New York's next generation of mortgage brokers.

The due date for nominations is October 8, 2012. Those selected will be featured in our November issue. Include titles and company names for all submissions and include a little bit about why you think they deserve to be featured. Nominate yourself, a colleague, a friend or your son and daughter. Doesn't matter to us, just send your submissions by October 8.

Send nominations to topmortgagebrokers@observer.com. All emails will be kept strictly confidential.