MediaMath built its company with the goal of “making a statement.”

It called upon the same strategy when it was time to choose a new home.

“MediaMath far exceeded all of its real estate objectives for a new headquarters and benefited from a window of opportunity as the first private company and tech company to complete a deal in 4 World Trade Center,” CBRE SVP Harly Stevens tells Bisnow.

CBRE helped make the cutting-edge company’s dream a reality, negotiating the lease with building owner Silverstein Properties.

“Anchoring a 100k SF HQ in the most recognized address in the world ‘makes a statement’ that far exceeds Manhattan submarkets on a global scale," Harly adds.

MediaMath CEO Joe Zawadzki tells us that the process of finding a new home was unique, and the traditional media bastion of Midtown held an early advantage over the emerging market of southern Manhattan.

“MediaMath employees were given the choice of offices,” Joe says. “They were choosing between two offices: one in Midtown and one at 4WTC. The goal was to find roughly 100k SF of contiguous space where we could hold all NYC employees and grow into the future."

Joe tells Bisnow that, before employee voting, straw polls indicated that 75% of employees preferred Midtown due to its familiarity and proximity to the previous offices.

“We had one key rule: only employees who visited both sites were allowed to vote," Joe says. "Roughly 175 employees visited both sites and voted. 4WTC won the voting—after visiting, roughly 75% of employees now preferred downtown."

Employees were excited at the prospect of moving to a historic location in the World Trade Center Complex. They also loved the idea of being part of the transformation from Wall Street to the boom of the media and tech hub.

“We are 400 people sitting at the center of the advertising universe,” Joe says. “Some of the largest media, marketing and technology companies have taken over the neighborhood, anchoring the World Trade Center complex. The symbolism is important—machine learning took over the financial industry two decades ago, and now the same revolution is happening in marketing.”