By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, Dec 8 (Reuters) - BlackRock Inc (NYSE:BLK), the world's largest asset manager, plans to move its headquarters in 2022 from midtown Manhattan to a massive new office tower in the fast-growing Hudson Yards district on the city's far West Side, the developers said on Thursday.
BlackRock BLK.N entered into a letter of intent to lease 15 floors, or 850,000 square feet, of the 58-story tower, which developers Related Cos and Oxford Properties Group Inc said will be the city's fourth-largest office tower.
BlackRock received a $25 million tax credit from New York state as part of the move on the condition the company create 700 new jobs and retain its current staffing in the city of about 2,700 for a decade, the state's development agency said.
The column-free tower, which will be named 50 Hudson Yards, will be on the northwest corner of 10th Avenue and 33rd Street. It will have its own entrance to the subway and be able to accommodate more than 500 people on each floor.
BlackRock currently has offices in two buildings on 52nd Street off Park Avenue, where its leases end in 2023. The new building is expected to be finished a year earlier and include a 400-seat auditorium.
Hudson Yards, a mixed-use neighborhood rising over the rail yards and tracks serving nearby Penn Station, has attracted a number of marquee names, including Coach Inc (NYSE:COH), L'Oreal and the Boston Consulting Group.
The National Hockey League on Tuesday announced plans to move to the district, where Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) Securities, Time Warner and Kohlberg, Kravis & Roberts, among others, also have agreed to relocate.
Blake Hutcheson, chief executive and president of Oxford Properties, called BlackRock's move a ringing endorsement for the West Side, once a forlorn area of mostly parking lots.