Blue State Digital Bringing Presidential Pedigree to 101 Avenue of the Americas
By Gus Delaporte September 11, 2013 7:30 am
reprintsBlue State Digital, a subsidiary of WPP, will relocate its New York office to 101 Avenue of the Americas in November, The Commercial Observer has learned. The new media strategy agency has signed a five-year deal for the entire 15,600-square-foot 12th floor at the Edward J. Minskoff Equities building and will pay rent in the mid-$60s per square foot, according to data from CompStak.
Founded in 2004 by former staffers of Howard Dean’s presidential campaign, Blue State Digital later provided digital and media strategy services for Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 runs for the White House. The agency’s rapid growth has necessitated a relocation from 5 West 20th Street and the new offices on Sixth Avenue will nearly double its current space, according to a spokesperson who confirmed the lease.
BlueState Digital also operates offices in Washington, D.C., Boston, Los Angeles and London. The agency has 70 employees in New York and 160 worldwide.
As reported by The Commercial Observer, Huntsworth Health signed a 10-year deal for the entire 13th floor at 101 Avenue of the Americas last month. Earlier, office space provider Regus signed a 10-year lease for 32,000 square feet at the building.
Developed in 1991, the 425,000-square-foot building was designed as a built-to-suit facility for SEIU 32BJ. With the tenant set to vacate the building at the end of 2011, Minskoff Equities began a redevelopment plan that included new mechanical, sprinkler and elevator systems.
The landlord was represented in-house by Jeffrey Sussman and by Paul Glickman and Jonathan Fanuzzi of Jones Lang LaSalle. Sacha Zarba of CBRE (CBRE) represented the tenant.
JLL (JLL) did not return requests seeking comment.
