Disney files plans for a 19-story headquarters in Hudson Square
304 Hudson Street via Google Street View
The Walt Disney Company has tapped Skidmore Owings & Merrill to design its new Hudson Square headquarters, according to a pre-filing application filed last week with the Department of Buildings. As first reported by the Real Deal, the building will rise 19 stories and include “East” and “West” towers. Last July, the media company purchased the rights to develop the property at 4 Hudson Square from Trinity Church, which owns a large percentage of buildings in the neighborhood, for $650 million under a 99-year agreement.
As part of the deal with Trinity, Disney picked up the former home of music venue City Winery on Varick Street; Via Wikimedia
According to the application, retail space will take up the first floor, with office space beginning on the third. The headquarters will house ABC and WABC News, as well as offices, production space, and studios for “The View” and “Live With Kelly and Ryan.”
The company last year sold its Upper West Side complex on Columbus Avenue for $1.155 billion to Silverstein Properties. “This move represents an historic step forward toward our long-term vision for our New York operations,” Robert Iger, CEO of Disney, said in a statement last year announcing the company’s move.
The site at 4 Hudson Square contains four buildings, including 304 Hudson Street and 137 Varick Street. Disney also purchased the property operated by music venue City Winery, which later sued the Trinity Church for $2 million in damages. The venue, which officially closed its doors on July 31, will open at Pier 57 in Hudson River Park.
Following a 2013 rezoning of Hudson Square, which includes an area of 18 blocks, the former Printing District attracted luxury condo buildings and a growing number of tech and media companies. At the time of the rezoning, the Trinity Church owned almost 40 percent of Hudson Square (thanks to Queen Anne granting the church 215 acres of land in 1705).
As 6sqft learned late last year, Google plans on investing $1 billion to open a 1.7 million square foot office complex in the neighborhood, doubling its workforce in New York over the next decade.
[Via The Real Deal]
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