StubHub expands footprint in WTC, shrinking Spotify space

Spotify needed less space in the World Trade Center, but StubHub needed more. In a deal that should make everyone happy — including owner Larry Silverstein — the online live events marketplace has subleased 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 the adjacent 4 World Trade Center. The deal also allows StubHub to get more space on Spotify at 4 World Trade later, according to Savills.

Separately, a different, unnamed tenant at 3 World Trade may exercise an option to expand into the old StubHub 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 are about 10 million square feet and are practically full.

Silverstein director of leasing Jeremy Moss said of the Spotify-StubHub situation,

“Part of the appeal of a multi-building campus environment is in providing the opportunity to grow, even for the largest tenants.

“When sublease space becomes available at the World Trade Center, it gets snapped up very quickly,” Moss said.

The terms of the sublease were not known. Moss said outright rents for what little space remains available are in the $90s per square foot at 4WTC and from the $90s “even into the hundreds” at 3WTC.

Spotify is shrinking its office footprint due to layoffs, cost-cutting and a liberal work-from-home policy. It previously subleased 69,000 square feet for payroll management tool Rippling and 85,000 square feet for language learning platform Duolingo.

The sublease to StubHub brings Spotify’s space to just over half of its original 564,000 square feet at 4 World Trade.

Other major 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 the floors previously leased to Media Math.