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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PR- 332-11
September 19, 2011

MAYOR BLOOMBERG ANNOUNCES PEARSON PLC WILL ADD 600 JOBS IN NEW YORK CITY THROUGH RELOCATION AND CREATION OF NEW MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY JOBS

Leading Global Learning Company Will Expand Presence in Hudson Square – One of City’s Burgeoning Neighborhoods – with 270,000 Square Feet of Renovated Space by Summer 2014

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Pearson North America Chief Executive Will Ethridge today announced that Pearson PLC will add 600 jobs in New York City by the summer of 2014 through relocation and the creation of new media and technology jobs. The global learning company will expand its presence in Manhattan’s burgeoning Hudson Square neighborhood, where a portion of Pearson’s operations are already headquartered. The expansion includes the relocation of professionals from Upper Saddle River, New Jersey and White Plains, New York to 270,000 square feet of newly renovated space at 330 Hudson Street. The relocated jobs have an average annual salary of $72,000. New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and Empire State Development (ESD) worked closely with Pearson to provide benefits and additional savings for its new location. Mayor Bloomberg and Pearson Executive Will Ethridge were joined for the announcement at 330 Hudson Street by State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, NYCEDC President Seth W. Pinsky, ESD Executive Director Peter W. Davidson, Beacon Capital Partners Founder and Chairman Alan Leventhal, Trinity Real Estate President Jason Pizer and Hudson Square Connection President Ellen Baer.

“To expand and create jobs, businesses need to have confidence in the future. Pearson’s relocation to and expansion at Hudson Square and its long-term investment in New York City is the latest example of the private sector’s confidence in the direction of our City and future growth of our local economy,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “It’s a smart move. We’ve worked to continue to grow New York City as a vibrant center for media, technology and innovation, and together with Trinity Real Estate and other partners, we’ve worked to promote Hudson Square as a prime commercial destination. Add to that a developer willing to invest more than $100 million in the area and a global company willing to bet on its future and the results are clear: hundreds of new jobs for New Yorkers.”

“Pearson and New York City share a passion for innovation. We believe that the Hudson Square area is precisely the type of vibrant, stimulating center for media, education, and digital services for businesses like ours,” said Pearson North America Chief Executive Will Ethridge. “Toward this goal we are consolidating our New York workforce at 330 Hudson Street, relocating professional employees from New Jersey and Westchester as well as expanding our workforce, especially in areas such as learning technologies, and as a result, setting up a new future technologies center in the City.”

“The arrival of Pearson PLC is more proof that Lower Manhattan is fast becoming the media and new media capital of the world,” said Speaker Silver. “Whether you’re a young innovator starting new business, or an established firm looking to be where the action is, it is clear that Lower Manhattan is the place to be.”

“I am thrilled that Pearson PLC has decided to move over 600 jobs to New York City, and especially to my own Council District,” said Speaker Quinn. “We are working continuously to bring more jobs to the city, and this is a testament to that effort. Today’s announcement illustrates that Hudson Square continues to be a haven for good paying, creative, highly sought after jobs.”

“One of the main reasons New York has continued to outperform the national economy is that more people want to live in New York, more people want to work in New York, and more people want to visit New York,” said Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert K. Steel. “Today’s announcement by Pearson is the latest example of a growing trend of companies ‘voting with their feet’ by choosing to do business in New York City.”

“Today’s announcement is a great win for our City,” said NYCEDC President Pinsky. “By adding hundreds of well-paying jobs right here in New York, Pearson is making a significant contribution to the Bloomberg Administration's ongoing efforts to ensure long-term economic growth across the five boroughs. I would like to thank Pearson for this major investment in the future of our economy. I would also like to thank our partners in the City and State for their work, and congratulate them on this important achievement.”

“Bringing Pearson PLC to Manhattan demonstrates the strong efforts New York State has taken to attract private sector investment and job growth,” said Empire State Development President, CEO & Commissioner Kenneth Adams. “ESD’s Excelsior Program was the ideal tool to offer a maximum incentive package to the company while guaranteeing a great return on our investment with the more than 600 high-paying full-time jobs the company will bring to the state.”

Pearson, whose US businesses include Pearson Education, The Financial Times Group, and Penguin Group US, will lease 270,000 square feet in a newly-renovated 440,000-square-foot building at 330 Hudson Street in Manhattan. The new facility, taken together with space Penguin occupies in 345 and 375 Hudson Street, will increase Pearson’s Hudson Square footprint to some 706,000 square feet. The long-term investment in New York City’s economy is expected to be complete by the summer of 2014. The lease on Pearson’s new Hudson Square space will be held with Beacon Capital Partners, which earlier this year acquired a 99 year land lease on the property from Trinity Church. Beacon Capital Partners is leading the redevelopment of the building and will invest $113 million to refurbish the existing eight-story structure, add an additional eight stories, and partially fund the renovation of the floors Pearson will occupy. Pearson will invest an additional $21 million in the renovation. In addition to Hudson Square, the company will also relocate jobs to Hoboken, NJ.

NYCEDC offered Pearson $4.5 million in Business Incentive Rate energy savings for both the 330 Hudson Street space and the other spaces within their growing Hudson Square campus. New York State, through ESD, offered Pearson $9 million in Excelsior Jobs Program tax credits over 10 years for the new positions relocating from New Jersey. These benefits and energy savings are in addition to benefits Pearson is expected to apply for through the Lower Manhattan Relocation and Employment Assistance Program, an as-of-right program administered by the New York City Department of Finance. In addition, the building’s developer, Beacon Capital Partners, is presently pursuing benefits through the Industrial and Commercial Incentive Program, also administered through the Department of Finance.

Hudson Square is fast becoming one of New York City’s most dynamic and creative business districts. Located between the Hudson River on the west, Avenue of the Americas on the east, Houston Street on the north and Canal Street on the south, the former industrial warehouse and loft district, is now home to a diverse roster of companies, including MTV, New York Magazine, Omnicom, Saatchi & Saatchi, the Guggenheim Foundation, and Edelman, among others. According to the Hudson Square Connection, the area’s Business Improvement District, more than 30,000 professionals presently work in Hudson Square. Hudson Square is also home to the 160 Varick Street incubator, the first in the City’s network of nine incubators designed to provide affordable space to start-up businesses and to spur entrepreneurship throughout a variety of sectors.

“We are thrilled that Pearson is bringing 600 jobs to the district and is further evidence that Hudson Square is the city’s home to creative sector companies in fields such as publishing, multimedia, architecture and design,” said Ellen Baer, President of the Hudson Square Connection Business Improvement District. “In the past year, more than 400,000 square feet of space in Hudson Square was leased by creative businesses that came to the district to be close to peers in the industry.”







MEDIA CONTACT:


Stu Loeser/Andrew Brent   (212) 788-2958

Wendy Spiegel (Pearson)   (800) 745-8489

Patrick Muncie (NYCEDC)   (212) 312-3523

Austin Shafran/Elizabeth Mitchell (ESD)   (800) 260-7313



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