Amazon will buy former Lord & Taylor flagship from WeWork for over $1B

Photo courtesy of Lord & Taylor

After The Real Deal first learned of the possible deal in late February, the Post is now reporting that Amazon is doling out $1.15 billion to acquire Midtown’s Lord & Taylor building from WeWork. Rumors that Amazon would potentially lease the building circulated last summer ahead of WeWork’s planned IPO. The sale will have big implications for both companies, giving WeWork much-needed capital and representing Amazon’s largest real estate acquisition to date. According to the Post, the landmark building will become Amazon’s NYC headquarters and home to “several thousand employees in the coming years.”

As 6sqft previously reported, Hudson’s Bay Co.—Lord & Taylor’s parent company—sold the 676,000-square-foot Italian Renaissance building to WeWork for $850 million in 2017 following years of lackluster sales. The deal closed in early 2019 and WeWork announced plans to turn the building into the company’s global headquarters after an extensive $200 million renovation by Bjarke Ingels.

Amazon continues to cement its presence in the city after plans for a second HQ in Long Island City fell apart. In December, the tech giant signed a lease for 335,000 square feet at 410 Tenth Avenue in Hudson Yards. And in August, they eyed additional leasable space at 460 West 34th Street at 10th Avenue. This represents Amazon’s typical practice of leasing large spaces, but the Lord & Taylor building is their largest real estate acquisition to date. The building can accommodate about 4,000 employees but it’s not clear what the company’s plans are for the space; previous reports said the new office space will open in 2021 and expand Amazon’s current NYC workforce with about 1,500 new jobs, though this is not confirmed.

[Via The Real Deal and NY Post]

Editor’s Note: This story was originally published on February 20, 2020, and has been updated.

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Tags : amazon, Lord & Taylor, WeWork

Neighborhoods : Midtown