AP’s Story: News Org Finalizes Lease at Brookfield Place
By Terence Cullen December 21, 2015 8:25 pm
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The Associated Press’ move Downtown to Brookfield Place has been made official.
After announcing in August it would leave 450 West 33rd Street between Ninth and 10th Avenues, the international news organization has signed its 170,000-square-foot lease at 200 Liberty Street, the landlord and tenant announced today.
AP is slated to move into the 1.7-million-square foot building in 2017, according to a press release from landlord Brookfield Property Partners. The news service will be in somewhat familiar territory, since Brookfield also owns 450 West 33rd Street, which it is repurposing and dubbing 5 Manhattan West.
“In moving our global headquarters, AP is returning to its original roots Downtown, where our first office was located,” Gary Pruitt, AP’s president and chief executive officer, said in prepared remarks. “Brookfield has been a true partner during the process and helped us find a fantastic space that complements our mission and our news culture.”
The lease is for 20 years, according to Brookfield, and asking rent in the deal was not immediately available. With the AP lease sewed up, 200 Liberty Street is now 100 percent spoken for. AP will take up four floors of the 40-story building where it will have its headquarters as well as its broadcast studio and newsroom.
Mitchell Steir, Matthew Barlow and John Mambrino of Savills Studley represented AP, while Jerry Larkin, David Cheikin and Justin Coulter of Brookfield represented the landlord in-house.
AP’s Midtown departure is one just the latest in media companies opting for a new Downtown office. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. and 20th Century Fox are in talks to take 1.5 million square feet of Silverstein Properties’ 2 World Trade Center. New York Mets broadcaster SNY earlier this year inked a deal for 83,000 square feet at Silverstein’s 4 World Trade Center.
Brookfield meanwhile recently welcomed Time Inc.—and its Time Magazine and Sports Illustrated—to offices at Brookfield Place. The media company is leaving its longtime Midtown home at 1271 Avenue of the Americas between West 50th and West 51st Streets.
“[AP] coming to Lower Manhattan further solidifies Downtown’s position as the media center of New York City,” Mr. Larkin said in a statement. “We are pleased to welcome [AP] to our burgeoning neighborhood.
A spokesman for Savills Studley declined to comment.
On the retail front, the landlord recently signed a deal for a Saks Fifth Avenue Men’s Store at Brookfield Place. The store at 250 Vesey Street will take up 16,750 square feet and is set to open in the spring of 2017.
