Master dealmaker Peter Riguardi has handled many momentous transactions, but the one his JLL team completed for Spotify’s move to Four World Trade Center last week carried special emotional weight.
“To me, anything at the World Trade Center is more than just another real estate deal,” an elated Riguardi said by phone over the murmurings of his toddler grandchildren, for whom he was making lunch.
“I did the first lease ever there, for China Center at 1 World Trade, and I was an adviser to the Port Authority in its renegotiations with Larry Silverstein over the site leading up to 2006,” he said.
JLL tristate President Riguardi expressed joy that the site “was attractive to such a major leader in the tech field. What helped draw them was that the Oculus and its connection to the Fulton Transit Center connected them to their workforce.” Many Spotify employees live downtown and in nearby Brooklyn and New Jersey.
Spotify, represented by JLL, signed for 378,000 square feet at Fumihiko Maki-designed 4 World Trade. The company will move from 620 Sixth Ave. at 18th Street. CBRE repped landlord Silverstein.