by Brianna Crandall — January 3, 2014—Developer Silverstein Properties announced on December 23 that GroupM, a global media investment management group, has signed a 20-year lease at 3 World Trade Center (WTC), currently under construction in Lower Manhattan. Designed by Richard Rogers of Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners to be the third-tallest building on the rebuilt WTC site, 3 World Trade Center is situated at the center of the various buildings around the Memorial and Museum honoring those who died as a result of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
GroupM, which becomes the first tenant to lease space in the building, will occupy approximately 516,000 square feet on nine floors at the base of the 80-story tower. The firm will consolidate its 2,400 employees from several Midtown locations to 3 World Trade Center when it moves into the building, which will open in 2017.
With this lease, handled by a team from CBRE, Silverstein Properties will now move forward to complete the financing and construction of the tower at 175 Greenwich Street, which will result in the sidewalks on Dey and Cortland Streets and Greenwich and Church Streets being restored and reopened, and will provide access to the PATH train and 11 subway lines.
3 World Trade Center was designed to be a model of transparency and sustainability. The tower consists of a reinforced concrete core with steel structure outside the core, and is clad in an external structural steel frame.
The building features floor to ceiling glass, and all four corners and each floor plate of the tower are column-free to create an open workspace environment, which Silverstein Properties notes is key for cutting-edge companies in brainpower-driven businesses like technology, advertising and branding, as well as law and financial service firms. 3 WTC will be a LEED Gold-certified office tower.
The 1,170 ft. (357 m) building contains 2.5 million sq. ft. (232,258 sq m) of light-filled, green and high-tech office space spread over 58 office floors. GroupM will occupy five 68,000 sq. ft. office floors at the base of the building and four 44,000 sq. ft. floors just above the base. The building also contains 183,000 sq. ft. of destination retail.
With the GroupM lease, a total of 5 million sq. ft. of office space has now been leased at the new World Trade Center complex, which is leading the way for the ongoing transformation of the Midtown Manhattan area. Companies that have moved or committed to space in the vibrant area include Condé Nast, BMI, Omnicom, Moody’s, WilmerHale, Fast Company and Inc. magazines.
According to the Alliance for Downtown New York, 455 firms have moved to Lower Manhattan since 2005, leasing a total of 10 million sq. ft. A full 211 of those companies have been in creative or professional services, taking 51 percent of the space leased.
