Spotify needed less space at the World Trade Center, but StubHub needed more. In a deal that should make everyone happy — including landlord Larry Silverstein — the online live-event marketplace has subleased a whopping 103,000 square feet from the music streaming company
Savills acted for StubHub, which will move from 44,000 square feet at 3 World Trade Center to more than twice as much space at 4 World Trade next door. The deal also allows StubHub to take more Spotify space at 4 World Trade later on, according to Savills.
Separately, a different, unidentified tenant at 3 World Trade may exercise an option to expand into StubHub’s old space, a source said.
“This significant expansion at 4 World Trade supports StubHub’s growth within its global headquarters in one of the premier buildings in Manhattan, not just Downtown,” said Savills managing director Scott Bogetti. “Structuring a deal that meets StubHub’s needs is a testament to the collaborative effort between all parties involved in this transaction.”
The move also illustrates the strength of Silverstein’s World Trade Center holdings — towers 3, 4 and 7 which have about 10 million square feet and are virtually full.
Silverstein leasing director Jeremy Moss said of the Spotify-StubHub situation,
“Part of the appeal of a campus setting with multiple buildings is in providing the opportunity to grow, even for larger tenants.
“When sublease space becomes available at the World Trade Center, it get taken very quickly,” Moss said.
The sublease terms weren’t known. Moss said that direct rents for what little space remains available are in the $90s per square foot at 4 WTC and from the $90s “well into the hundreds” at 3 WTC.
Spotify is shrinking its office footprint due to layoffs, cost-cutting and a liberal work-from-home policy. It earlier sublet 69,000 square feet to payroll management outfit Rippling and 85,000 square feet to language-learning platform Duolingo.
The sublease to StubHub brings Spotify’s space to little more than half of its original 564,000 square feet at 4 World Trade.
Other large tenants at 3 World Trade are WPP, law firm Freshfields, McKinsey and Uber. In addition to Spotify, 4 World Trade is home to insurer Zurich, a division of KKR and online financial platform Clear Street which took over floors previously leased to Media Math.
