By Justin Summer | Co-Star Group
Droga5 has signed a 15-year lease totaling 92,000 square feet on five floors at 120 Wall St. in New York City. The global creative and strategic agency is relocating to Lower Manhattan in early 2014.
The 34-story, 607,172-square-foot, class A office building was originally constructed in 1929 on more than half an acre in Manhattan's Financial District, at the northwest corner of South Street. It was renovated in 2005, and the owner recently embarked on a capital improvement program to modernize the facade, lobby and elevator cabs. The project, which taps Moed de Armas & Shannon Architects, will complete in August.
Seven leases signed at the building in the last eight months have brought it to almost full occupancy, according to property owner Silverstein Properties. Droga5 will join Catalyst, Urban Homestead Assistance Board, National Urban League, and The America Institute of Chemical Engineers in the building.
Droga5 worked with state and city officials to receive World Trade Center Job Creation & Retention Program (JCRP) funds from the Empire State Development (ESD) and New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), to help facilitate the creation of 154 new jobs by the end of 2017.
Founded in 2006, New York-based Droga5 has grown from a five-person agency to nearly 325 employees worldwide and a client list that includes blue-chips like The Coca-Cola Company, American Express, Motorola, Prudential, Spotify and UNICEF. In 2012 the firm launched a standalone product development studio that blends software and storytelling to build platforms and businesses, and earlier this month it announced a strategic partnership with entertainment and media company William Morris Endeavor.
"The time has come for our real estate to match the scale of our ambitions, and 120 Wall Street and the surrounding community of industry leaders in technology and media offer exactly that. We thank all of the partners involved, including Governor Cuomo, Mayor Bloomberg and their teams at ESD and NYCEDC, for supporting our growth and expansion Downtown," said Andrew Essex, vice chairman of Droga5.
According to the Downtown Alliance, more than 390 companies have relocated to Lower Manhattan since 2005, representing a wide array of industries.
"The country's leading tech, media and advertising companies are deciding that Downtown is the place to do business, and the economies of New York City and State are the beneficiaries of the district's magnetic vitality and dynamism," said Elizabeth Berger, president of the Downtown Alliance.
Ken Siegel and Howard Hersch of Jones Lang and LaSalle and David Brooks and Marty Edelman of Paul Hastings represented Droga5 on its lease negotiations. Ross Moskowitz of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP handled JCRP negotiations for Droga5. Roger A. Silverstein and Joseph Artusa of Silverstein Properties handled lease negotiations in-house for the landlord.
Silverstein Properties is a privately-held real estate development, investment and management firm founded in 1957. SPI has developed, owned or managed more than 35 million square feet, and has $10 billion in development activities underway including the commercial office space at the World Trade Center and the recent opening of Silver Towers.
