Pearson, a London-based media and learning company, has signed a 270,000-square-foot lease at 330 Hudson Street in Hudson Square, as part of its plan to relocate and expand its presence in New York City, according to a statement released by Mayor Michael Bloomberg today. Pearson signed the lease with Beacon Capital Partners, which earlier this year acquired a 99-year land lease on the property from Trinity Church. “We believe that the Hudson Square area is precisely the type of vibrant, stimulating center for media, education and digital services for businesses like ours,” said Will Ethridge, CEO of Pearson North America.
Beacon is leading the redevelopment of the 440,000-square-foot building, and will invest $113 million to refurbish its
existing eight-story structure, add an additional eight stories and
partially fund the renovation of the floors Pearson will occupy.
Pearson already occupies offices at 345 and 375 Hudson Street, and
the new space will increase its Hudson Square footprint to some
706,000 square feet. The company is relocating parts of its workforce
from Upper Saddle River, N.J and White Plains, N.Y. Some
of its employees are also moving to Hoboken.
“We’ve worked to continue to grow New York City as a vibrant center
for media, technology and innovation, and together with Trinity Real
Estate and other partners, we’ve worked to promote Hudson Square as a
prime commercial destination,” Bloomberg said.”Add to
that a developer willing to invest more than $100 million in the area
and a global company willing to bet on its future and the results are
clear: hundreds of new jobs for New Yorkers.”
The New York City Economic Development Corporation offered Pearson
$4.5 million in energy savings for both the
330 Hudson Street space and the other spaces within its growing Hudson
Square campus. Pearson was also offered $9 million in tax credits from the Empire State Development Corporation over
10 years for the new positions relocating from New Jersey.
“We are thrilled that Pearson is bringing 600 jobs to the district and
it is further evidence that Hudson Square is the city’s home to
creative sector companies in fields such as publishing, multimedia,
architecture and design,” said Ellen Baer, president of the Hudson
Square Connection Business Improvement District. “In the past year,
more than 400,000 square feet of space in Hudson Square was leased by
creative businesses that came to the district to be close to peers in
the industry.” — Miranda Neubauer