Etsy signs a 10-year lease in Kushner-owned $475M Dumbo property

Chad Dickerson has announced that his company, Etsy, the online market for handmade goods, has just signed a ten-year lease in the newly renamed Dumbo Heights office complex (formerly, the building’s belonging to the Jehovah’s Witnesses). According to an email from the company, the projected move-in date is 2016.

We covered the purchase of the church’s building (the iconic Watchtower building). Since spending $375 million to purchase the building, the Kushner Companies have put in another $100 million in refurbishing it, according to The Real Deal.

Dickerson previewed many of the notes he struck in his announcement of the deal at the recent Tech Triangle U panel he took part in, pointing out that New York companies are less likely to isolate themselves in campuses separated by a sea of parking. With this deal, Etsy locks itself into its commitment to the urban core. From Dickerson:

Over the last nine years, we’ve seen the tech industry here grow, and we take our role as a leader in it seriously. By expanding our operations, we are able to support myriad local businesses, from furniture vendors to food purveyors. In New York, tech is not an isolated industry, but instead embraces community and urban life. We’re excited to continue to grow here.

Etsy currently employs 350 people. Dickerson writes that he expects to grow that staff by 300 more over the next five years.