The Associated Press announced plans to move its global headquarters from its current home on the far west side of Midtown to a smaller space at 200 Liberty Street in the Financial District.
The newswire will take 172,000 square feet at the downtown building, across from the September 11th Memorial, starting in early 2017. The lease will last 21 years.
The new space will be 40 percent smaller than the AP’s current headquarters at 450 West 33rd Street, appropriate for the news cooperative’s smaller headquarters staff. The AP is also looking to avoid a heavy rent increase expected with the rise of Hudson Yards in the neighborhood. Its current rent is $15 million per year.
The new location would be the AP’s 11th corporate headquarters in New York in its nearly 170-year history, the AP said. The organization has operated out of midtown since 1925. About 600 employees will move to the new office, according to an AP spokesperson.
Brookfield Properties owns both the old headquarters and the new. [AP] – Ariel Stulberg