Twitter to scale back New York office space as Elon Musk cuts costs
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Twitter recently listed nearly 19,000 square metres of space for sublease at 245 and 249 West 17th Street in Manhattan.
PHOTO: REUTERS
NEW YORK – Twitter is seeking to sub-lease New York office space as the technology company looks to curb costs.
Twitter recently listed nearly 200,000 sq ft of space for sub-lease at 245 and 249 West 17th Street in Manhattan, according to data from real estate brokerage Savills.
An e-mail seeking comment from Twitter did not receive an immediate reply; the company previously laid off its entire public relations department. A spokesman for Pacific Investment Management’s Columbia Property Trust, the owner of the building, declined to comment.
Mr Elon Musk has been slashing costs since taking over Twitter in 2022.
Sub-leasing the New York space could help Twitter reduce costs, given that most property contracts require tenants to pay rent for the life of a lease even if the space is not occupied.
The buildings were among a handful of properties tied up in a recent default by Pimco’s Columbia Property Trust. The office owner said last week that it was working on a restructuring of the loans with its lenders.
Twitter’s office pullback is the latest real estate retrenchment from a major tech company.
Facebook parent Meta Platforms has given up some offices at Manhattan’s Hudson Yards, while Amazon.com also cut back on a planned expansion in the city, Bloomberg reported in 2022.
That is adding to the woes of many landlords in the city, who relied on large tech companies in recent years as a driver of leasing.
While financial services companies have stepped up to take more space, nearly 19 per cent of offices in the city were available to rent as at the fourth quarter, according to Savills. Bloomberg
