Publicis Groupe inks lease for office at Industry City

One of the “Big Four” advertising agencies is saying “oui” to Brooklyn. French colossus Publicis Groupe inked a lease for its first Kings County office, at the Industry City complex in Sunset Park, sources told The Real Deal.

Prodigious, the production arm of Publicis, would take about 15,000 square feet at the 6 million-square-foot complex, sources said. Rents at Industry City range from $15 to $35 per square foot.

It was not immediately clear if brokers were involved. Industry City’s Brett Harvey and Jeff Fein, who handle leasing in-house, could not be reached for comment.

Publicis’ New York headquarters remains Rudin Management’s 1675 Broadway, where it struck a deal last year to expand to more than 604,000 square feet  at the Midtown tower. There, asking rents are in the $70s per square foot.

Maurice Levy, the CEO of Publicis for the past three decades, plans to step down next year, according to Bloomberg. The 90-year-old company, the third-largest advertising group in the world, has been struggling amid several contract cancelations.

A spokesperson for Publicis could not be reached for comment.

The developers of Industry City – Jamestown, Belvedere Capital and Angelo, Gordon & Co. – are planning an overhaul of the complex, including the creation of a 1,200-foot-long retail hub and the repositioning of a 500,000-square-foot block of space that would be devoted solely to TAMI tenants.

Other tenants at the complex include MakerBot, Time Inc., West Elm, the Brooklyn Nets and the Gap.