(UPDATED) Related Wins Bid for WarnerMedia’s Offices at 30 Hudson Yards
The sale leaseback deal is expected to exceed $2 billion.
NEW YORK CITY—Related Companies has won the bid to acquire WarnerMedia’s office condominium at 30 Hudson Yards. This was first reported by Reuters. The price for the 1.5 million square-foot space is said to top $2 billion. The office space spans the 16th through 51st floors in the 2.6 million square-foot skyscraper.
A source close to the deal tells GlobeSt.com that Related offered WarnerMedia a 15 to 20 year lease, and space contraction rights which no one else likely would be willing to offer. Also some believe that Related uniquely was able to offer to take on certain repair and maintenance obligations for WarnerMedia since Related runs the condominium regime in the overall project.
On April 3, Bloomberg reported that Allianz SE was among Related’s potential partners in the deal and Invesco Real Estate was among the bidders to buy the stake.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Doug Harmon, Adam Spies and Kevin Donner represented WarnerMedia (formerly Time Warner), which is leasing back its space in the Hudson Yards building. The team had previously handled a similar sale leaseback for Time Warner. In January 2014, Time Warner sold their property at 10 Columbus Circle to Related Companies, GIC which manages Singapore’s foreign reserves and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority for $1.3 billion, according to Real Capital Analytics. This prior transaction allowed WarnerMedia to stay at the property and raise capital for its investment in Hudson Yards.
Reuters reported WarnerMedia is the first tenant to begin moving employees into 30 Hudson Yards. In 2014, when Time Warner sold its stake in Columbus Circle, The New York Times had noted it planned to consolidate 5,000 workers from offices across the city into the new location. AT&T had acquired TimeWarner for $85 billion in June 2018. Reuters also stated the telecom company was looking to reduce its net debt of $171.2 billion in 2018 by $20 billion.
Related Companies is the primary developer with Oxford Properties a major equity partner in the newly created 28-acre Hudson Yards District. It is the largest private development in the US.
This story has been updated with the addition of the second and third paragraph on April 3, 2019. The original story was filed on April 2, 2019 at 11:40 am.