Pfizer to Relocate HQ to Hudson Yards
This June, Tishman Speyer begins construction on The Spiral, the 65-story office tower where the biopharma giant will reside starting in 2022.
NEW YORK CITY—Pfizer is moving its headquarters, selling two buildings where it is currently located at 219 E. 42nd St. and 235 E. 42nd St. and relocating to The Spiral at Hudson Yards. The biopharmaceutical company is uprooting from its East Midtown location where it has been for more than 50 years, heading to Tishman Speyer’s new office tower at 66 Hudson Boulevard in 2022. The building construction begins in June.
Pfizer has signed a 20-year lease for approximately 800,000 square feet, occupying the seventh through 21st floors, plus an exclusive lobby off 34th Street. The building will also provide two public lobbies off Hudson Boulevard East and Tenth Avenue, with one having ceiling heights extending up to 28 feet. The six-story base of the building will include 25,000 square feet of retail. It will occupy a full block from W. 34th to W. 35th streets.
Tishman Speyer plans to complete by 2022 the 65-story, 2.8 million square-foot tower designed by Danish architect Bjarke Ingels. The Spiral will be 1,031 feet high, featuring terraces and signature hanging gardens. A green pathway around the tower’s exterior will supply readily accessible outdoor space.
In connection with the finalization of the Pfizer lease, Tishman Speyer closed on a series of transactions to secure the financing. The $3.7 billion project will be financed with $1.9 billion in equity from Tishman Speyer and more than a dozen other institutional, pension fund and individual investors, as well as a $1.8 billion construction loan from Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc.
A Cushman & Wakefield team led by executive vice chairman Josh Kuriloff represented Pfizer in negotiating the lease. A team led by chairman Adam Spies is working on the sale of Pfizer’s current headquarters.
The full Cushman & Wakefield team also included John Santora, Matthias Li, Andrew Braver, Josh King, Anthony Pasqual, Robert Knakal, Peyton Horn, Ashley Chase, Warren Braverman, Kevin McCann, Deb Moritz and Michael McDermott.
Pfizer was also represented by Marc Hurel and Evan Babcock of the law firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP.