Philadelphia-based Rubenstein Partners is putting down roots in New York City, opening up its first physical office in the city at a 4K SF space in Midtown.

The firm, which is partnering with Heritage Equity Partners to build a 400K SF speculative office building at 25 Kent Ave. in Williamsburg, is working to expand its footprint in the city.

The New York office is at the top of GFP’s 515 Madison Ave., at the corner of 53rd Street. Rents in the deal were not made available.

“Having the physical space is very meaningful to have the boots on the ground presence to source deal flow in New York City,” said Rubenstein Regional Director of New York Robert Andrews, who was poached from RXR Realty in September.

“When you look at the larger capital sources — both in terms of on the debt and the equity sides — you find a very high concentration of groups we do business with are in the Plaza District.”

Andrews said Rubenstein’s long-term plan is to continue growing the team.

Initially, it wants to focus on new hires to support the investor relations effort. It will then begin beefing up the acquisitions team, as the company continues to look for investment opportunities.

Before joining Rubenstein, Andrews oversaw $13B worth of investments at RXR. His deals included the $1.7B acquisition of 1285 Avenue of the Americas and the $1.2B purchase of 230 Park Ave.

In February, Rubenstein hired Ferhat Guven as director of investor relations. He was previously a senior vice president of Threadmark, the U.S. arm of a U.K.-based placement agent.

The firm bought a stake in 25 Kent in 2015, and the partners received a $197M construction loan for the project from Wells Fargo and Natixis Real Estate Capital in 2016.