Moody’s, one of the “Big Three” credit rating agencies, is relocating its global headquarters to Brookfield Place in a 460,000-square-foot lease deal announced on December 22. The move, which will see it go from 7 World Trade Center to the 40-story tower at 200 Liberty St., won’t take place until 2027, but is already one of the largest Manhattan office market leases of 2025.

Moody’s has been at the World Trade Center since 2005, when it helped revitalize the area by becoming an anchor tenant at the rebuilt complex following 9/11. Two decades later, the move to Brookfield Place is a downsize from 760,000 to 460,000 square feet. It’s part of a global restructuring that also includes new or upgraded offices in London, Sydney, Tokyo, Milan and Washington, D.C.

The new headquarters will occupy space in what was formerly the World Financial Center, developed in 1986. Today, the mixed-use complex houses high-end retail, dining options and amenities such as the Winter Garden atrium. The property is also well-placed for access to PATH, ferries, and the subway, and the space features 180-degree views of New York Harbor.

“Since our founding more than 115 years ago, our global headquarters has been in Lower Manhattan, and this new office is the next chapter of our downtown presence,” said Moody’s CEO, Rob Fauber.

He explained that the space will “better serve our customers and ensure Moody’s remains a place where people want to come and grow” with modern event and conference facilities for hosting clients, partners and industry events. The flexible workspace design accommodates the hybrid working model that appears set to remain in place for many financial firms, serving Moody’s 16,000 global employees.

Broker representatives for Moody’s were the Cushman & Wakefield team of Robert Lowe, John Cefaly, Paige Engledrum, Ed Donnery, Michael Montesi and Nicholas Dysenchuk. The landlord was represented by an internal team that consisted of Mikael Nahmias, Dan Roberts, and Andrew Dunn, as well as JLL’s Paul Glickman, John Wheeler and Christine Colley.

For Brookfield Properties, the lease caps a strong year that saw it secure more than 2 million square feet of office leasing at Brookfield Place. This haul represents around 40% of all office leasing across Lower Manhattan, according to Brookfield’s announcement.

Earlier this year, Brookfield extended its ground lease with the Battery Park City Authority through 2119 in a deal valued at $1.9 billion total, including $1.5 billion projected for affordable housing initiatives.