Yesterday, media conglomerate Condé Nast started moving into its new offices at the 104-story 1 World Trade Center, a milestone that bookends the 13-year period when the complex was closed for business. Though USA Today reported that only roughly 170 of the company’s employees moved into the space this week, an additional 3,000 are expected to relocate by early 2015.
One World Trade Center is slightly less than 60 percent leased, with most of the lower floors having been signed (Commercial Observer reported yesterday that Condé Nast signed its 25-year lease well over three years ago). When completely leased, an estimated 12,000 tenants will occupy the building, providing a tremendous boost to downtown retailers in the vicinity.
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According to the New York Observer, Downtown Alliance President Jessica Lappin boasted that, “Condé Nast’s arrival puts a stiletto in the heart of the outdated notion that Lower Manhattan is stuffy and gray.”
Though Condé Nast will eventually have a cafeteria, it will not be designed by a starchitect like its old dining hall at 4 Times Square (In 2000, Observer reported that the cafeteria run by Restaurant Associates included such delicacies like Fettucini with parmesan cream sauce and pecan raisin rolls from Eli’s).
Commercial Observer canvassed the area surrounding the World Trade Center and assessed local dining spots that may become very popular with the Condé Nast crowd.
