By: Hadassa Kalatizadeh
One World Trade Center, the vast commercial space known to be the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, has been cooperating to facilitate Condé Nast’s sublease of its unwanted commercial space. Amid the pandemic, tenant Condé Nast, privately held by Advance Publications honchos Steven Newhouse and Donald Newhouse, had threatened to abandon their downtown lease at the tower. The dispute was resolved, and the landlord agreed to allow subleasing by the tenant.
As reported by the NY Post, the tower’s entire 21st floor has now been subleased to digital marketing specialists, Constellation Agency. The 48,000-square-foot space was subleased by Advance Communications, with the help of their real estate brokers, JLL. This is the second deal inked to replace Condé Nast at the tower. Previously, in another deal, 40,000-square-feet were subleased to social site Reddit.
Advance, parent of Condé Nast, has a long term lease for a total of 1.1 million square feet at the tower. In a widely watched tenancy dispute Condé Nast, the powerful magazine publishers, claimed they couldn’t afford the rent amid the COVID-19 pandemic and said they wanted to move out and relocate to cheaper space in Midtown or even New Jersey. The landlords at One World Trade Center, namely the Port Authority and the Durst Organization, warned Advance that it wouldn’t be let out of its full lease which doesn’t end till 2039. Advance, which publishes posh titles Vanity Fair, Vogue and The New Yorker, backed down on its threat to leave, but had stopped paying its $2.4 million in monthly rent in January. In the beginning of August, the dispute was resolved, with the tenant agreeing to pay back-rent, and the landlords agreeing to be flexible and allow Advance to sublease 400,000 square feet of its no-longer-wanted space, much of which is still up for grabs.
The asking rent for the Condé sublease space is roughly $60s per square foot, as per The Post. JLL tristate President Peter Riguardi said that the still-available Advance space at One World Trade “provides tenants with significant flexibility, spectacular views and access to abundant amenities.”
The tech-focused marketing company, Constellation Agency, will be moving to One WTC from its previous home at 110 William St. nearby. The company offers a creative hybrid approach to advertising through internal as well as client-facing technology tools. Riguardi and JLL’s Joseph Messina and Steven Rotter represented Advance in the deal. Constellation was represented by Cushman & Wakefield’s Dale Schlather and Greg Herman.
Direct leasing at One World Trade Center is handled by Newmark Knight Frank and Durst.
