Chelsea Market/ (image credit: Jamestown)

NEW YORK CITY—Google's $2.4 billion acquisition of Chelsea Market from Jamestown was finalized on March 20. The technology titan currently already occupies significant space in the 1.2 million square-foot complex located at 75 Ninth Ave.

The former Nabisco factory takes up the full lot bordered by Ninth and Tenth avenues and 15th and 16th streets. Each year the ground-floor food hall, which also contains a variety of shops, sees more than 500,000 visitors. The sale should not affect the experience of people coming to Chelsea Market.

Jamestown issued a statement that it will continue to manage the food and retail center. The two companies have agreed to work together to ensure a smooth transition with little or no impact to the community and building tenants.

“For Jamestown, this is the highest profile example to date of our unique approach to creating value but it's consistent with transformative projects we've successfully undertaken across the country,” says Michael Phillips, president of Jamestown. He adds the project exemplifies identifying underutilized locations, creative and visionary repositioning, value-creating management, rigorous financial analysis and patience.

Inside Chelsea Market Inside Chelsea Market/ (image credit: Jamestown)

Jamestown was represented by Doug Harmon, Adam Spies and Kevin Donner at Cushman & Wakefield, and Google was represented by Darcy Stacom at CBRE.

In 2010, Jamestown and its partners sold 111 Eighth Ave. to Google for $1.77 billion. Jamestown owned 70% of that property, which is located directly across from Chelsea Market. Jamestown and Google have worked together on several local, community-focused initiatives. This includes the computer lab for Robert Fulton Houses and the purchase of the 1954 Julian Binford mural “A Memory of 14th Street and 6th Avenue” that was donated to the Hudson Guild.

Redevelopment of the Chelsea Market property began in 1995 when real estate investor Irwin Cohen purchased the site with intentions to create a space for the city's flower district. In 2003, Jamestown purchased a 75% interest in Chelsea Market, repositioning the food hall and focusing on placing tech, media, and other creative tenants in the upper floors. In 2012, as part of a broader effort to add to the city's inventory of available office space to support the recovery of New York City's economy following the recession of 2008, the city approved a 300,000 square-foot addition to Chelsea Market.

Jamestown's other nationally recognized adaptive reuse projects include Industry City in Brooklyn, the Falchi Building in Queens, Ponce City Market in Atlanta, the Innovation and Design Building in Boston and Brunswig Square in Los Angeles.

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Betsy Kim

Betsy Kim was the bureau chief, East Coast, and New York City reporter for Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com. As a lawyer and journalist, Betsy has worked as the director of editorial and content for LexisNexis Lawyers.com, a TV/multi-media journalist for NBC and CBS affiliated TV stations in the Midwest, and an associate producer at Court TV.

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