SouthBeachDiet.com Parent Looks to Fatten Up

Yet another online media company catering to the neuroses of overfed, underemployed Americans is booming and looking for yet more office space in the commercial real estate market.

Just weeks after The Observer reported that WebMD was on the hunt, we now learn that Waterfront Media, owner of the Everyday Health Network of 24 Web sites (among them the South Beach Diet and, appallingly, Bikini Bootcamp), is also on the prowl and is considering jumping across the East River, from Dumbo to Manhattan.

The local nerve center for Waterfront Media, which claims to be “the largest privately held online health company,” with 25 million unique visitors a month, is now housed in the Walentas family’s 45 Main Street, giving tenants easy access to both New York’s best chocolate chip cookies (Jacques Torres) and its best baguettes (Almondine).

A 2005 Real Estate Weekly article reported that the firm had expanded into 10,000 square feet of space. Now, according to a source familiar with the firm, it plans to expand into about 40,000 square feet either in Brooklyn, or in Manhattan’s Hudson Square or Park Avenue South. The firm’s lease expires soonish (not this year, that much we know).

Waterfront Media’s spokesman wouldn’t comment. Nor would Cushman & Wakefield broker Mitti Liebersohn, who is representing the company. But, the times are certainly propitious for a move across the East River: Manhattan rents have plummeted from their boom-time highs, particularly for sublease space.

drubinstein@observer.com