Campari America, the US subsidiary of Campari Group, the world’s sixth-largest spirits company announced it is moving its headquarters from San Francisco to New York City in the fall of 2018.
The new offices will house US operations; North America regional executives and support teams; and global strategic marketing for Campari Group’s spirits brands, such as SKYY Vodka, Wild Turkey Bourbon, Espolòn Tequila, Appleton Estate Jamaican Rums, and Glen Grant Scotch Whisky.
Campari America will occupy two floors of the Grace Building, owned by Brookfield Property Partners, located next to Bryant Park at 1114 6th Avenue at 42nd Street in midtown Manhattan.
Campari was represented in the brokerage transaction by Colliers brokers: Joseph Cabrera, David Glassman, Tim Kuhn, Brendan Cavender, and Steve Maneri. Brookfield was represented by Ken Rapp, Sarah Pontius, Peter Turchin, Zak Snider, Cara Chayet of CBRE.
The offices will accommodate the entire US team, including marketing, trade marketing, finance, accounting, legal, human resources, product supply chain, IT, and sales operations. Field sales teams will not be affected. The company will be vacating its current offices in San Francisco’s Levi’s Plaza.
“Campari America has become the number-one revenue generating territory for Campari Group,” said Jean Jacques Dubau, Managing Director, Business Unit North America, Campari Group. “This move will allow us to be closer to our worldwide headquarters in Milan; closer to our production facilities in Kentucky; better connected to our Jamaica, Mexico, and Canada operations; and closer to our key distributor partners in the US. Our new office will also place us squarely in the epicenter for the American creative and spirits industries.”
“We are at an exciting evolutionary stage of our business here in the US, where big, bold thinking will fuel our continued growth in this territory,” said Dubau. “This move will help to increase collaboration with key business partners and our Milan counterparts; allow us to more easily hire candidates with deep spirits experience; and give us the room to expand as we grow our portfolio of premium brands.”
Campari Group posted a solid +3.4 percent organic growth in sales led by top performers like Espolòn, Aperol, Campari, Grand Marnier, and Wild Turkey.
San Francisco has served as the original home for Campari America since 1992, the year of SKYY Vodka’s invention. The explosive success of SKYY would fuel the birth of Skyy Spirits, which occupied a small office in a Victorian on Van Ness Avenue. The company was purchased by Campari Group (then Gruppo Campari) in 2002. As the business grew, Skyy Spirits moved to Fisherman’s Wharf in 2003 and was rechristened Campari America in 2012. Levi’s Plaza has served as the company’s home since 2013.
Campari America’s Bryant Park headquarters will house approximately 165 employees. All eligible San Francisco employees were offered relocation from San Francisco to New York.
The company was represented by Colliers International during the location search and in the 10-year, 64,648 s/f lease deal. Architectue and design firm Genseler will design the new Campari offices.
Owned by Brookfield and The Swig Company, the Grace Building is a 48-story, 1.6-million-square-foot, LEED Platinum-certified office building designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft at the apex of his career. The building features 42,000 s/f of retail space and a 30,000 s/f outdoor plaza.
Its office tenant mix is comprised of leading companies in a wide array of industries, and it is home to a mix of food and dining options, including Gabriel Kreuther, Bluestone Lane, Joe & the Juice, Kreuther Handcrafted Chocolate, Sweetgreen and STK. In January, Humanscale, the premier designer and manufacturer of ergonomic office products, signed a lease for 33,000 square feet in the building for its HQ and a design studio.
In March, Brookfield and The Swig Company signed a long-term net lease for 1100 Avenue of the Americas, the 386,000 s/f office and retail building adjacent to the Grace Building on the corner of 42nd Street and Avenue of the Americas. The companies will redevelop the 1100 Avenue of the Americas as well as enhance and activate the open-air, ground floor plaza it shares with the Grace Building.
