Condé Nast has signed a tentative agreement to move downtown to One World Trade Center, according to The New York Times.
The company will leave 800,000 square feet at 4 Times Square behind to anchor the new building, formerly known as the Freedom Tower, after its completion in 2013. The move will likely happen in 2014. Two Condé Nast executives told The Times that the company would likely lease one million square feet in the building, or almost 40 percent of the space available. The company notified employees of the plans, which are still in “active negotiatons,” in a memo this morning. (Update: Memo here.)
The Observer reported that Condé was looking at space downtown in May. “We’re paying below market rent here, and at some point, it goes to market,” one executive at the company explained. “That’s a huge jump. When we moved to Times Square, market rent was nothing like what it will be when our lease expires.” Condé Nast’s lease doesn’t expire until 2019.
“Si is focused on steering resources toward our content,” said another Condé Nast executive. “He likes to put resources toward quality products, not toward non-essential things like rent.”
