Publicis Groupe Inks 1 MSF Lease at NYC Home

375 Hudson St. Image courtesy of Hudson Square Properties

Publicis Groupe has decided to stay put—and take on additional elbowroom—at its Manhattan home in the approximately 1.1 million square-foot office property at 375 Hudson St. The French advertising and public relations firm has just inked a 20-year lease agreement with Hudson Square Properties, owner of the 18-story tower in Midtown South, renewing its 680,000-square-foot occupancy and expanding it by an additional 280,000 square feet.

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Publicis has a long history with 375 Hudson. Saatchi & Saatchi, a subsidiary of the firm since 2000, was one of the original tenants of the office building, which first opened its doors in 1987. However, it was more than history that prompted Publicis to stick with its longtime address, according to Hudson Square Properties, which is a joint venture of Trinity Church Wall Street and Norges Bank Real Estate Management, with Hines serving as operating partner.  “Publicis was drawn to the ability to locate their workforce in one building, which they had the opportunity to do at 375 Hudson St. Being in one location, allows Publicis to better serve their clients,” Tommy Craig, head of Hines’ Tri-State office, told Commercial Property Executive. “Also, like many tenants that come to the largest three assets at Hudson Square Properties, Publicis was drawn to the efficiency of the large floorplates, which are as big as 71,000 rentable square feet in the base of the building. Floorplates of this size are not typical in Midtown.”

Midtown, specifically the office building at 1675 Broadway in Columbus Circle, is where Publicis maintains its other Manhattan offices; the company renewed a lease on more than 500,000 square feet there in 2015. Workers at that location will relocate to the newly expanded digs at 375 Hudson. Publicis was keen to stay in the Hudson Square area. “They feel that the location has only gotten better since they originally moved in and wanted to make a long-term commitment to the neighborhood,” Craig said. The area has become a hub for the TAMI sector. In summer 2018, The Walt Disney Co. acquired 4 Hudson Square for $650 million, with pans of redeveloping the site as its New York headquarters. Late last year, Google announced it would assemble 1.7 million square feet at three buildings to create its $1 billion Google Hudson Square campus.

Portfolio achievement

With the 960,000-square-foot Publicis deal, the office segment of 375 Hudson is now fully leased. Hudson Square Properties relied on the CBRE team of Howard Fiddle, Paul Amrich and Ben Joseph for representation in the lease transaction, while CBRE’s John Maher, Paul Myers, Mike Wellen, Greg Maurer-Hollaender and Cara Chayet stood in for the tenant.

As part of the deal’s facilitation, building tenant Penguin Random House, represented by Cushman & Wakefield’s Richard Bernstein, Adam Ardise, Eric Thomas and Stephen Bellwood, parted ways with its 280,000-square-foot space in the building to accommodate Publicis’ expansion needs. Publicis’ commitment to 375 Hudson is the largest, longest-term lease ever signed in the Hudson Square Properties portfolio, which comprises 12 assets totaling more than 6 million square feet. Hudson Square Properties, which formed in 2016, acquired 375 Hudson from Tishman Speyer for $464.6 million in one of the top-10 Manhattan office deals of 2017.