Time Inc., the publishing house of famous magazines like "TIME" and "People," announced Thursday that it will be moving its headquarters from the Rockefeller Center to lower Manhattan, NYC, by next year.
According to the New York Post, the company will be moving to downtown Manhattan and leasing six floors at the Brookfield Place office complex located at 225 Liberty St., CEO Joe Ripp announced in a memo released to the employees. The space is currently undergoing a $250 million renovation.
"We are leasing raw floor space we can shape to our own vision. We shall benefit from superb river views and a 20,000 square feet private deck overlooking the Hudson River," Ripp said in the statement.
"We plan to create an open modern workspace that will foster collaboration and ignite creativity across the company."
Time Inc. occupied the building at the 50th Street and Avenue of the Americas when it was completed in 1959. The move, which comes after 55 years, will end a long-time association with TIME magazine founder Henry Luce. According to Businessweek, the 34th floor of the Time & Life Building was used as a model to portray the corporate culture of the sixties in the hit series "Mad Men." The company will leave the building by the end of 2015, even though its lease expires only by 2017.
The Time & Life Building, owned by the Rockefeller Group, will be renovated and marketed to multiple tenants after Time Inc. moves.
Time Inc. decided on the new headquarters location after much evaluation. The new location comes with certain tax incentives from the state. Time Inc. will also reportedly receive a $7 million grant from "the federally funded Jobs Creation and Retention Program, designed to revitalize lower Manhattan after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks," according to the Wall Street Journal.
The company looked at several spaces in New Jersey and New York, but "the incentive package we received from Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Empire State Development drove our decision to stay in New York City," said CEO Ripp, according to Deadline.
"We have ambitious plans for a modern, open workspace that will be designed to foster a greater sense of community and collaboration across the company and it will deliver significant cost savings," Ripp added.
The move to relocate comes as Time Inc. is separating from parent company Time Warner Inc. The publishing house will be listed as a new company on the New York Stock Exchange as "TIME" and shareholders of the company will get one share each for every eight shares of Time Warner Inc. they own.
"As an independent, publicly-traded company, we believe we can more effectively focus on our objectives and satisfy the strategic needs of our business," CEO Ripp said in an earlier letter to shareholders.
Time Inc.'s move comes at a time when major media companies are moving away from mid-town Manhattan. The Post notes that the exodus started by Conde Nast continues with many media moguls like National Enquirer and Daily News moving back to Water Street after hurricane Sandy.
