Google’s latest acquisition is the iconic Chelsea Market food hall in New York City. The tech giant has recently bought the property for a whopping $2.4 billion. With this move, Google is further expanding its footprint in the area—the 1.1 million-square-foot mid-rise is located directly across the street from the property at 111 Eighth Avenue, which it acquired in 2010, for $1.8 billion.
75 9Th Avenue, New York (Yardi Matrix)
The building’s former owner, Jamestown, will continue to manage the retail area and the food hall. Furthermore, the real estate company is going to retain the intellectual and branding rights connected to the Chelsea Market name.
“For Jamestown, this is the highest-profile example to date of our unique approach to creating value, but it’s consistent with transformative projects we’ve successfully undertaken across the country. It’s a combination of identifying underutilized locations, creative and visionary repositioning, value-creating management, rigorous financial analysis, and patience,” Michael Phillips, president of Jamestown, said in a statement.
The deal for the Class A mid-rise is the second-largest full single-asset sale ever recorded in the city, the New York Post reports. The largest one was the sale of the GM Building in 2007, with a price tag of $2.8 billion. The Chelsea Market deal, though, boasts the highest price per square foot—$2,181—registered among sales exceeding the $2 billion mark.
A New York City landmark credited with revitalizing West Chelsea, Chelsea Market is renowned for its ground-floor food hall that attracts more than 500,000 tourists and locals per month. The eight-story mixed-use complex is home to a plethora of high-profile restaurants, food shops, retailers, tech and media companies.
The 220,106-square-foot retail space is anchored by the Chelsea Market Baskets, the Manhattan Fruit Exchange, BuonItalia, and Anthropologie. This premier Chelsea office space is shared by Google with its subsidiary, Youtube, media companies Scripps Networks Interactive, Spectrum News NY1, and the Food Network, and with Major League Baseball Advanced Media, Yardi Matrix data reveals.
Located on the site of the former Nabisco factory at 75 9th Ave., Chelsea Market occupies the full block bounded by Ninth and Tenth Avenues between 15th and 16th Streets. Originally completed in 1934, the building went through an adaptive reuse program in 1997, when it was converted to office space. Jamestown bought the property in 2003 and contributed to its transformation into a trophy Manhattan office asset by focusing on attracting tech and media companies as anchor tenants. The building also benefits from unused air rights that allow for a 300,000-square-foot expansion.
