EY Takes 600 KSF at One Manhattan West

By Barbra Murray

Brookfield Property Partners Senior Managing Partner & Chairman Ric Clark (left) and EY U.S. Chairman & Americas Managing Partner Stephen Howe, Jr. visit Brookfield’s One Manhattan West in New York, the newly announced site for EY’s future U.S. Headquarters, on Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017.

Ernst & Young has found a new home. The global professional services firm will relocate its U.S. headquarters from its current location at 5 Times Square to 600,000 square feet at Brookfield Property Group’s One Manhattan West, a $2.1 billion office tower sprouting up across from the Empire Station/Penn Station Complex on the west side of Manhattan.

Commercial real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield, along with Brookfield’s in-house team, represented the landlord in the lease transaction, while Newmark Knight Frank represented EY and guided the company in its search for just the right space.

“One Manhattan West, with its convenient location and focus on connectivity and technology, is a great addition to our Metro New York footprint, which includes our two new EY wavespace locations and a brand-new office and learning center in Hoboken,” Richard Jeanneret, a vice chair & managing partner with EY, said in a prepared statement. “We are constantly evaluating opportunities to expand EY’s ability to help our clients navigate the transformative age.”

Executives from EY and Brookfield Property Partners tour Brookfield’s One Manhattan West in New York, the newly announced site for EY’s future U.S. Headquarters, on Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017.

EY will set up shop on 17 floors of the 67-story One Manhattan West, ample elbow room for the approximately 1,152 new employees the company expects to hire over the next seven years. EY is a longtime resident of New York City, and officials were eager to keep the company in the state. Encouragement to stay put came in the form of an Empire State Development jobs incentive package of up to $12 million in performance-based tax credits. 

“Our investments to attract and retain the world’s leading companies are creating high-paying jobs and leveraging new investment to help strengthen and grow our economy,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in prepared remarks.

Good neighbors

EY will share the tenant roster at One Manhattan West with a host of prestigious occupants. Law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP gave Brookfield the catalyst it needed to kick off construction of the Manhattan office property with its commitment to a 550,000-square-foot anchor space in 2015. In 2016, the National Hockey league signed on for 160,000 square feet, and in August of this year, professional services company Accenture inked a lease for 250,000 square feet for the consolidation of its two New York City offices. And a bevy of other businesses have staked a claim to the building. With EY’s commitment, One Manhattan West is now 82 percent leased, excluding the tower’s 100,000 square feet of lower-level retail.

One Manhattan West is part of Brookfield’s eight-acre Manhattan West mixed-use development, which will ultimately encompass 6 million square feet of state-of-the-art office space, as well as luxury residences, a boutique hotel and street-front retail offerings. One Manhattan West is on track to reach completion in 2019.

Images courtesy of Brookfield Property Partners