HUDSON SQUARE — Pearson P.L.C., the publisher of The Financial Times and Penguin Group books, will relocate to Hudson Street by summer 2014, the company and Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Monday.
The London-based firm will relocate 600 jobs to 330 Hudson St. from Saddle River, N.J. and White Plains, N.Y. and plans to create additional media and technology jobs, Pearson executive Will Ethridge said.
Pearson will receive at least $13.5 million in city and state incentives over 10 years, according to a statement issued by City Hall.
Bloomberg called the city money spent in Hudson Square an investment in the area's future.
"We've continued to invest in parks and infrastructure and new schools and housing. These kinds of improvements have helped us attract a diverse range of businesses," he said. "There are few places where that is more apparent than right here in the burgeoning neighborhood of Hudson Square."
Ellen Baer, the president of the Hudson Square business improvement district, said that Pearson's move to the area will increase the number of media companies there.
"People here can expect more energy and more demand for retail. This helps reinforce Hudson Square's reputation as New York's innovation capital," she said.
Offices for MTV, WNYC and New York Magazine are already located in Hudson Square.
The neighborhood's city councilwoman, Council Speaker Christine Quinn, said the move will provide a boost to area shops.
"The businesses around here, the restaurants, the delis — they will be lifted up by the individuals who come here and work here," she said.
Construction over the next three years will expand the Hudson Street building, which is owned by Trinity Real Estate, from eight to 16 stories, Bloomberg said. Beacon Capital Partners, which is leading the building's redevelopment, will invest $113 million in the renovation. Pearson will contribute an additional $21 million, according to the statement.
For relocating jobs to the city, Pearson will receive $4.5 million in energy savings arranged by the city Economic Development Corporation and $9 million in tax credits over 10 years through Empire State Development, according to the statement.
Pearson is applying for additional benefits from the city Department of Finance, according to the statement.
In February 2010, Trinity Real Estate terminated a 99-year lease it had granted to Tribeca Associates back in 2007, when Tribeca Associates planned to convert the building into offices and a hotel, according to Crain's New York Business.
Trinity said that Tribeca failed to pay contractors and that Tribeca's roofless design for the building would have threatened the structure. Tribeca accused Trinity of interfering with its ability to sign office tenants, according to Crain's.
