Silverstein Properties announced today that leading independent investment research provider Morningstar, Inc. has signed a 10-year, 30,000 square foot lease at 4 World Trade Center. The company expects to move to the 48th floor of 4 World Trade Center in mid-2015.
“The new World Trade Center is open and great companies want to be here,” said Larry A. Silverstein, Chairman of Silverstein Properties Inc. “After all the years of planning and building, the future has finally arrived at the World Trade Center, just as Lower Manhattan is reaching its full potential as the world’s most dynamic and modern live/work community.”
“We’re excited to expand our footprint in New York by leasing space in such a beautiful building,” said Joe Mansueto, chairman and CEO of Morningstar. “We conducted an extensive search, and we love the building’s design. Moving Downtown allows us to double our capacity for staff in New York. We’ll design it like other Morningstar offices around the globe, with an open environment that reflects our culture and our commitment to transparency and collaboration. We look forward to hosting clients in our new space next year.”
“Morningstar’s decision to move to 4 WTC is part of a trend of smart, creative and growing companies moving Downtown,” said Janno Lieber, President of World Trade Center Properties. “These firms want to be in new, high-tech, green buildings right next to the best mass transit in the city and ultra-convenient to the Brooklyn Lower Manhattan and New Jersey neighborhoods where young talent is choosing to live. That’s why more than five million square feet of office space has already been leased in the new WTC.”
Lease negotiations for Morningstar were handled by a CBRE team headed by Michael Liss. Jeremy Moss, Director of World Trade Center Leasing for Silverstein Properties, led the negotiations for the landlord, together with the CBRE agency team including Steve Siegel, Mary Ann Tighe, Adam Foster, Steve Eynon, Evan Haskell, Ken Meyerson and David Caperna.
According to the Downtown Alliance, 511 firms have moved to Lower Manhattan since 2005, leasing a total of 12.3 million square feet (1.14 million square meters). 226 of those companies have been in creative or professional services, taking 51 percent of the space leased.
In its 2013 report, “Brain Gain,” the Downtown Alliance explained, “The high-value knowledge workers who drive the region’s economy – the people companies want to hire – increasingly live within a 30-minute commute of Lower Manhattan. Extensive residential development and dramatic neighborhood revitalization in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and New Jersey’s Hudson River waterfront cities have attracted huge numbers of young, educated people, workers in the professional and creative fields that drive leasing in New York City – who prefer apartment living and shorter commutes via subway, PATH, ferry, bike and foot to suburban life and lengthy commutes via heavy rail or car.”
“More than 500 companies have relocated to Lower Manhattan over the past several years,” said Alliance for Downtown New York President Jessica Lappin. “Lower Manhattan’s pull on firms in the world of finance and media shows no sign of weakening. We’re thrilled to have Morningstar in our diverse and dynamic business district.”
