BlackRock agrees to 20-year, 850K sf lease at Related’s 50 Hudson Yards

BlackRock inked a preliminary agreement to move into the Related Companies’ Norman Foster-designed 50 Hudson Yards that will give the money manager $25 million in state tax credits over the next decade.

The asset manager, which currently occupies roughly 700,000 square feet across 31 floors in Several Buildings On 52nd Street between Madison and Park avenues, has agreed to take 850,000 square feet at the Far West Side tower for 20 years, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The office will span 15 floors with most employees spread out across trading-floor style layouts. The deal also includes a 400-person auditorium. At 2.9 million square feet, the Foster & Partners-designed 50 Hudson Yards will be the largest, though not the tallest, building at Related’s megaproject.

BlackRock [TRDataCustom], which has been headquartered on Park Avenue since its founding in 1988, plans to move to its new home in late 2022. In July, the Journal reported that Black Rock had narrowed down its search to Hudson Yards, the Durst Organization’s One World Trade Center and Brookfield Property Partners’ Manhattan West.

Empire State Development, Albany’s economic development agency, is offering the incentives in order to spur job creation. As part of the agreement, Black Rock must create 700 new jobs over the 10-year term of the tax credits. The company currently employees 2,700 people in New York and Princeton, New Jersey. [WSJ] – Rich Bockmann