NEW YORK CITY—Yet another publishing firm is migrating Downtown, and a law firm is reportedly close to taking the soon-to-be-vacated Midtown space.
McGraw Hill Financial plans to move about 250 employees to Lower Manhattan from 1221 Ave. of the Americas, the Midtown building that bears its name, according to Bloomberg.com. The move will help the company “consolidate our real estate footprint, enhancing collaboration by bringing more of our employees together and lowering our future costs,” says a McGraw Hill spokesman. The tower's landlord is the Rockefeller Group, which did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
Most senior management, human resources and finance workers will relocate to 55 Water St., the current home of the company's Standard & Poor's division, Bloomberg reports. McGraw Hill also has held preliminary talks with the developers of the World Trade Center and Hudson Yards to relocate once its downtown lease expires, according to three people with knowledge of the discussions.
McGraw Hill is just the latest firm to take part in a Midtown exodus by media and information companies, which started with Conde Nast Publications. The New York Daily News, Harper Collins and others followed. Magazine publisher Time Inc. reportedly is considering leaving the Time-Life Building, a block to the north of the McGraw Hill tower, and is concentrating its search on Downtown.
“Of the three criteria that drive the marketplace right now—financial, operational and qualitative—Downtown seems to offer the best of all worlds for somebody making a decision based on those criteria,” says Andrew Peretz, executive managing director at Newmark Grubb Knight Frank.
Meanwhile, law firm White & Case is just days from signing a lease for McGraw Hill's space, reports the New York Post. “It could be finished by next week,” notes one insider.
The firm will expand from slightly more than 300,000 square feet at the Durst Organization's 1155 Sixth Ave. into just over 400,000 square feet at 1221 in 2016 when its lease expires. Asking rents at 1221 are $78 per square foot, the Post reports. Cushman & Wakefield is reportedly the leasing agent for the tenant but the firm declined to comment at press time.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Rayna Katz
Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
