Magazine Essence Moving HQ to 29K SF Within Industry City

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The publisher of African-American women’s magazine Essence, which was recently sold off by former owner Time Inc., inked a deal to keep its headquarters within Industry City, a source with knowledge of the deal said.

Essence Communication signed a 10-year lease for 29,000 square feet at 34 35th Street within the Sunset Park, Brooklyn, campus, Crain’s New York Business first reported. Asking rents in the 16-building complex are between $15 to $40 a square foot, as Commercial Observer previously reported.

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The magazine plans to move into its new digs in the second quarter of this year, the source said.

Kathe Chase and David Young handled the deal in-house for Industry City while Colliers (CIGI) International’s Richard Mirliss and Sheena Gohil represented Essence. A spokesman for Colliers did not immediately provide a comment and a spokeswoman for Industry City declined to comment.

Essence, which also puts out an annual music festival, started 48-years ago and was sold to Time Inc. in 2005, The New York Times reported. Its headquarters are currently based in Time’s Industry City space at 241 37th Street.

In November, the Meredith Corporation bought Time for $2.8 billion when Shea Moisture founder Richelieu Dennis reached out to buy Essence, the Times reported. The sale to Dennis closed in January and made Essence a fully black-owned publication for the first time in nearly two decades, according to the Times.

Essence will join media companies like Condé Nast, Bust Magazine and the Brooklyn Rail in the 6 million-square-foot development that is co-owned by Jamestown, Belvedere Capital, Angelo, Gordon & Co., Cammeby’s International and FBE Limited.