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e 25th-floor model office of 7 WTC is entirely green
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Weeks away from completion, 7 World Trade Center (7 WTC) is already gaining well-deserved attention due in large part to its owner's dynamic marketing efforts. Silverstein Properties, developer of the 52-story, "green" tower, recently launched a three-pronged approach to spreading the word about 7 WTC's deluxe office space -- earning the interest of potential tenants while stirring general public awareness that rebuilding progress is being made downtown.
The first stage of the marketing push began inside the tower, with the temporary build out of the 25th floor. The space, designed by the building's architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, opened in fall 2005 to provide a sense of what a completed 7 WTC office might look like. Furnished with all "green" and recycled furniture -- from the conference tables to the glue under the carpet -- the south-side office location yields WTC-site views and scale models, as well as a futuristic audio-video display to tour future tenants through finished-site visualizations. (See more visualizations for Lower Manhattan projects here.)
To tout the tower dubbed as the "gateway to the World Trade Center," Silverstein hired Portland, Maine-based Via Group to orchestrate its branding campaign. In part, the company ran four-page advertisements in publications like the New York Times Magazine, Fortune, and Forbes, focusing largely on the tower's incomparable accommodations and vistas. The ads themselves were simple, declaring, "To leaders with vision, your office is ready."
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| 250 buses advertised 7WTC around Manhattan this winter |
Silverstein also wanted to shine the spotlight on 7 WTC as "a sign of things to come" for all New Yorkers, says Silverstein Properties Marketing Director Dara McQuillan. To get there, Via Group created ads that adorned 250 Manhattan buses -- an unconventional move for a real estate company courting tenants.
Another piece of the marketing package is the new www.wtc.com website, which launched in mid-November alongside the ad campaign. The website hosts community updates, leasing information, and details about the WTC's master plan and progress.
"The campaign is the equivalent of holding out a sign saying 'Open for business,'" McQuillan says. He explains that the intent is to reach out both to decision makers, as well as to "everyday New Yorkers" who may eventually populate the building. The response, he says, has been overwhelmingly positive.
But the real proof is in the tower's recently signed and growing list of prospective tenants. With the help of broker CB Richard Ellis, the New York Academy of Sciences in December signed a 15-year lease to occupy the entire 40th floor (40,000 square feet). In early January, a 10-year deal for half of the 39th floor was inked for Ameriprise Financial, followed by a deal to transform the tower's top five floors (200,000 square feet) into the "China Center" with Chinese developer Beijing Vantone. Several other potential tenants are in negotiations.
Of course, among all the future tenants of 7 WTC, none will be as close to home as Silverstein Properties itself, which has been widely known as the tower's first official tenant since work began there in 2002. The firm plans to move into its new home this spring.
To read more about 7 World Trade Center, click here.
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