By Holly Dutton
Media giants News Corp. and 21st Century Fox are considering becoming neighbors with another media giant downtown – Conde Nast.
The companies are reportedly in talks to build a joint headquarters in an 88-story tower at the World Trade Center, according to published reports.
The companies, of which Fox News and The Wall Street Journal are owned by, have been in discussions about building the skyscraper for months with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the entity that owns the site, and mega developer Larry Silverstein, whose company, Silverstein Properties, has the rights to build one more tower at the site, which would be known as 2 World Trade Center.
Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch’s companies, which were split into two in 2013, previously eyed space at Related Companies’ Hudson Yards project on the Far West Side of Manhattan. The company’s headquarters are currently housed at 1211 and SL Green Realty’s 1185 Avenue of the Americas, where they lease a combined 1.2 million s/f. Those leases will expire in 2020.
Along with Conde Nast, The Daily News, Time Inc., McGraw-Hill, American Media Inc. and MediaMath have all moved downtown recently, signaling a big change for an area previously thought of as just for financial institutions.
If the alleged deal goes through, the construction of 2 World Trade Center would be the last piece in the puzzle – finally completing the rebuilding of the World Trade Center.
Before 9/11, the World Trade Center was a 16-acre campus completed in 1973 comprised of seven different buildings, with 1 WTC and 2 WTC being the twin towers.
“21st Century Fox and News Corp are each exploring options for their New York headquarters and the process is ongoing,” read an e-mailed joint statement from 21st Century Fox and News Corp.
