Last puff: Philip Morris exits 120 Park for Connecticut HQ

Tobacco behemoth eyeing Fairfield County

120 Park Avenue, Philip Morris CEO Jacek Olczak and Fairfield County, Connecticut (Avison Young, Philip Morris, iStock)
120 Park Avenue, Philip Morris CEO Jacek Olczak and Fairfield County, Connecticut (Avison Young, Philip Morris, iStock)

Tobacco behemoth Philip Morris International is leaving New York for its new headquarters in southwest Connecticut.

The company is exiting its offices at Global Holdings Group’s 120 Park Avenue, according to the Wall Street Journal. About 200 employees from the 26-story Midtown East location — built in 1981 as its corporate headquarters — will move, said CEO Jacek Olczak. The company continues its shift away from tobacco products.

A new location wasn’t specified, but Olczak said the company may set up shop somewhere in Fairfield County, the Journal reported. Unusually, the move to Connecticut will not include incentives or tax breaks, a spokesperson for Gov. Ned Lamont told the Journal.

Post-Covid, Connecticut has gained new appeal. The housing and rental markets have both surged as urban workers with the means left New York City.

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Phillip Morris sold 120 Park to Global Holdings in 2008 for $525 million and relocated its main operations to Virginia. Bloomberg LP moved into the 630,000-square-foot building in 2011. It has a 468,000-square-foot lease across 16 floors that runs through early 2029.

[WSJ] — Suzannah Cavanaugh