USA Arm of Spirits Giant Moving to Grace Building From San Fran
By Liam La Guerre February 27, 2018 12:24 pm
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Campari America, the U.S. arm of the spirits company Campari Group, has signed a 10-year, 64,658-square-foot lease at Brookfield Property Partners and The Swig Company’s Grace Building to relocate its headquarters from San Francisco.
The company, known for brands like Skyy Vodka and Wild Turkey, has been based in San Francisco since 1992. It will occupy the entire 18th and 19th floors in the 48-story building between West 42nd and West 43rd Street near Bryant Park when it moves in the fall, according to a news release from Brookfield.
The entire U.S. team, comprising 165 employees, is moving to the building, which has an official address of 1114 Avenue of the Americas.
Campari executives expect the new location will boost its connectivity with its other offices, as it puts the Grace Building office closer to its worldwide Milan headquarters, and operations in Kentucky, Jamaica, Mexico and Canada, according to Jean Jacques Dubau, the managing director of Campari Group’s business unit in North America.
“This move will help to increase collaboration with key business partners and our Milan counterparts; allow us to more easily hire candidates with deep spirits experience; and give us the room to expand as we grow our portfolio of premium brands,” Dubau said in a prepared statement.
Gensler has been selected to design the new Campari America office. Colliers (CIGI) International’s Joseph Cabrera, David Glassman, Tim Kuhn, Brendan Cavender and Steve Maneri handled the deal for Campari America. CBRE (CBRE)’s Ken Rapp, Sarah Pontius, Peter Turchin, Zak Snider and Cara Chayet represented Brookfield. The CBRE brokers did not immediately respond to a request for comment via a spokeswoman, while a Colliers spokeswoman did not immediately return an inquiry seeking comment.
“We are thrilled to welcome Campari America to the Grace Building, bringing the prestigious global beverage leader to Bryant Park and the heart of New York City,” a Brookfield spokesperson told Commercial Observer.
The asking rent in the deal was not immediately clear. However, in a recent Bank of America (BAC) deal at the 1.6-million-square-foot tower, the starting rent was $70s per square foot, as CO previously reported. And Humanscale, a designer and manufacturer of office products, signed a 33,000-square-foot lease to move its headquarters to the Grace Building. The asking rent in that deal was in the high-$80s per square foot, as CO reported last month.
Retail tenants in the building include Gabriel Kreuther, Bluestone Lane, Joe & the Juice, Sweetgreen and STK.
