Case study

40% → 80% leased in 4 months, $125/SF

Zar Property rebuilt 37 East 18th Street top to bottom. The campaign's job: make the market see the new building.

See the live website

A light-filled corner office at 37 East 18th, virtually staged

“This helped rebrand the building in the eyes of the brokers - the lifeblood of our business.”

Julian ZarPrincipal, LeasingZar Property NY

The challenge

A transformation the market hadn't seen

Zar Property bought 37 East 18th for $27M in August 2024 and rebuilt it top to bottom - new lobby, pre-built floors, rooftop amenity space - with Jonathan and Simon Zar leading construction and architecture in-house.

It was the biggest bet they'd ever made on a single building. But brokers still knew the address as the old 37 East 18th - rundown, raw, hard to transact.

“Over the years we've learned to create spaces that aren't just beautiful, but also adaptable for how people actually work today.”

Jonathan ZarPrincipal, Zar Property NY

A newly pre-built floor at 37 East 18th — Pre-built floors, ready for tenants

The restored limestone facade, sidewalk shed still up — During the rebuild

The rooftop terrace and conservatory at 37 East 18th, rendered

The positioning

The location.
The redevelopment.
The pre-built suites.

The campaign leads with the building's three strongest cards: a prime Midtown South location minutes from Union Square, a top-to-bottom redevelopment, and pre-built 8,900 SF floors ready for move-in - topped by the rooftop amenity space.

The opportunity

Help tenants see themselves in the space

Leasing people see past an empty floor - tenants can't. Trophy staged the raw shoot into working scenes, turned the rough rooftop renderings photoreal, and polished every image the campaign runs on - so a tenant comparing 20 spaces gets, in Julian's words, "something to play with." Drag the sliders: the actual campaign images, before and after.

An empty pre-built floor at 37 East 18th, as shot — Virtual staging - the open floor

The same floor, virtually staged as a working office — Virtual staging - the open floor

An empty room with the watertower view, as shot — Virtual staging - the conference room

The same room, virtually staged as a conference room — Virtual staging - the conference room

The architect's rough rooftop rendering — The rooftop rendering, made photoreal

The same rooftop rendering, made photoreal at dusk — The rooftop rendering, made photoreal

The lobby at 37 East 18th, before enhancement — The lobby, enhanced

The same lobby, enhanced for the campaign — The lobby, enhanced

The approach

One link with everything brokers need

Zar leases in-house - 20-year broker relationships get people into the building. The website is the handoff: one link with the floor plans, stacking plan, photos and live availability.

Brand identity and building website, live about a month after kickoff.

The interactive stacking plan and live availability on 37east18.com — The live stacking plan and availability at 37east18.com

“Brokers ask me all the time for floor plans, the stack, the photos. Now it's all in one place - no more rummaging through files for the old flyer.”

Julian ZarPrincipal, Leasing

The results

40% → 80% leased in 4 months, $125/SF

Four months after the campaign went live, the building's vacancy was meaningfully reduced - and leasing is still moving at high velocity, with asking rents climbing along the way.

In the client’s words