BuzzFeed Inks 42K-SF Lease for New HQ at 50 West 23rd Street

Despite layoffs over the last few years and the shuttering of its news division in 2023, BuzzFeed is moving the employees it has left to a new home and significantly shrinking its footprint in the process.

The online media company signed a lease for 42,210 square feet at Two Trees Management-owned 50 West 23rd Street, and will move its headquarters 1.2 miles south from its current location on the 10th floor of 229 West 43rd Street, according to the landlord. BuzzFeed will take over the Flatiron District building’s entire sixth floor, along with 11,000 square feet on the fifth floor. 

Two Trees declined to provide the specific length of the lease, only saying it was a “multiyear” deal. Asking rents in the building are between $68 to $70 per square foot.

Alyssa Zahler of Two Trees handled the deal in-house while CBRE (CBRE)’s Christopher Mansfield, Jason Frazier and Jesse de la Rama represented BuzzFeed. A spokesperson for CBRE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The move is a significant downsizing for a media company that has been slashing its workforce and selling off assets in an effort to manage expenses. BuzzFeed sublet its 110,000-square-foot offices at 224 Park Avenue South to Monday.com in 2022 and then moved into about 107,000 square feet at 229 West 43rd Street.

BuzzFeed also owns Huffington Post and earlier this year announced a cut of 22 percent of that media outlet’s newsroom, the New York Post reported at the time. BuzzFeed blamed the layoffs on growing challenges within the media business.

In addition to layoffs, in Feburary BuzzFeed announced the sale of the program distributing network Complex to Ntwrk for $108.6 million.

BuzzFeed will be joining retail company Instacart, marketing agency BMF, and software company Grovo at 50 West 23rd Street, a 13-story, 341,000 square-foot office building in Manhattan. 

Amanda Schiavo can be reached at aschiavo@commercialobserver.com.