BNY in Talks to Sublease 200K SF From Condé Nast at 1 World Trade Center

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BNY) is negotiating an approximately 200,000-square-foot sublease from Condé Nast at 1 World Trade Center to rotate employees into the space while it renovates its nearby global headquarters at 240 Greenwich Street, Commercial Observer has learned.

Sources tell CO that the BNY sublease would be for four of Condé’s base floors and span four years, giving the bank time to complete the work. However, this falls short of the publisher’s lease term that ends in 2039.  

VTS data shows that the only available consecutive Condé Nast floors at 1 WTC range from the 28th to 32nd, but Kroll is already on 31. While the 32nd floor has 47,941 square feet, each of the others has just over 48,000 square feet.

Sources familiar with the bank’s plans say its multi year renovation project at 240 Greenwich will focus on the façade and lobby and add new amenities for employees and clients.

Current alteration permits include a bridge to a new elevator lobby on the 21st floor for the rooftop terrace and a demolition for a new office fit-out on the 15th floor. The building has an interior atrium, and work is being done on an auditorium on the 17th floor. There is also mechanical work on HVAC systems to reduce carbon emissions and comply with Local Law 97, according to the permits.

BNY will need the extra space to house its New York employees soon. Earlier this month, the bank called its employees back to the office for four days a week starting in September, upping the three days previously required, Reuters reported. The global bank has 50,000 employees.  

BNY is being represented by JLL, while Condé Nast is now repped by Scott Gottlieb of CBRE. 

Owned by the Durst Organization and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, 1 WTC is represented by Newmark and its owners would have to approve the sublease.

Direct rents at the tower can reach the high-$80s per square foot and even climb to the triple digits for a duplex on the 88th and 89th floors. Condé Nast’s asking rent could not be gleaned, but last year, its ask for some deals was reported in the $60s range per square foot.  

The companies either declined to comment or did not respond by press time.

BNY previously headquartered at One Wall Street — built for the Irving Trust Company in 1931 — which was sold to Harry Macklowe in 2014 for $585 million as a residential conversion. BNY then relocated those employees to 350,000 square feet at 225 Liberty Street in Brookfield Place. 

But the bank had also occupied space at 240 Greenwich — then known as 101 Barclay Street — since 1989, when it merged with Irving Trust, which occupied the building under a 99-year ground lease from New York City. 

The Bank of New York merged with Mellon Financial Corporation in 2006 to become Bank of New York Mellon. 

In 2013, BNY bought the ground lease for $164.4 million and, under a purchase option, bought the land for $352 million in 2018. It then subleased the Brookfield Place space to J. Crew Group, and BNY moved all employees into 101 Barclay/240 Greenwich.

Meanwhile, magazine conglomerate Condé Nast relocated from Times Square to the 20th through 44th floors of 1 WTC shortly after the Financial District tower was completed in 2014. However, it put much of that space on the sublet market, hiring JLL in 2018 to hunt down prospective subtenants.

The situation escalated in 2021, when Condé Nast withheld $2.4 million in rent to gain leverage in negotiations with Durst and the Port Authority to reduce its footprint and rent. Condé Nast eventually paid up later that year.

Since 2019, Condé Nast has sublet more than 230,000 square feet of its 1 WTC space to New York Life Insurance Company, Ennead Architects, Ambac Financial Group, Constellation Agency, Reddit and Kroll. Axsome Therapeutics expanded to a second 48,000-square-foot floor earlier this year. 

The negotiations for the short-term lease of the Condé Nast floors has been ongoing for several months and is not yet a done deal.