Condé Nast to anchor 1 WTC

A deal to bring Condé Nast to Ground Zero is nearly complete: Si Newhouse’s publishing giant has signed a tentative deal with the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey to anchor the under-construction skyscraper formerly known as the Freedom Tower, sources told the New York Times. The Vanity Fair, Vogue and New Yorker publisher notified employees this morning that it was in “active negotiations” to relocate from its current offices at 4 Times Square, where it occupies 800,000 square feet, but the Times’ sources said the move is actually a nearly-done deal. Condé is said to be taking up to 1 million of the 2.6 million-square-foot One World Trade Center building beginning in 2014, which, at 1,776 feet tall, is slated to be the city’s tallest. By most accounts, the deal would be a game changer for both the tower and for the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan. “Just as it did for Times Square, a Condé Nast move would provide instant credibility to the World Trade Center site and, indeed, to the entire downtown market,” said Carl Weisbrod, outgoing president of Trinity Church’s massive real estate division. [NYT]