Google closes $2.4 billion Chelsea Market deal to expand New York campus

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The $2.4 billion sale of New York's Chelsea Market to Alphabet Inc's Google closed on Tuesday in a deal that will expand the company's presence in the city's technology corridor along the Hudson River.

The sale of the 1.19 million square foot complex that includes ground floor shopping and a food hall marks a coup for asset manager Jamestown LP, which acquired a 75 percent stake in the former Nabisco factory in 2003 for $280 million.

Jamestown bought out its partners in 2011 in a deal that valued the building at $795 million, according to media reports.

The building is adjacent to Google's New York headquarters at 111 Eighth Avenue, one of the city's largest buildings that it bought in 2010 for $1.77 billion. That building also was developed by Jamestown along with Taconic Partners.

The deal highlights New York as a hub for innovation and an incubator for young technology companies, said Michael Phillips, president of Jamestown. The sale was first reported in early February.

The sale also showcases a Manhattan real estate market that has not lost strength, said Doug Harmon, a broker at Cushman & Wakefield who represented Jamestown in the deal.

"People have been saying the cycle is long in the tooth," said Harmon, who also brokered the 2010 deal with Google.

Google also has leased space on Pier 57 jutting into the Hudson, which will create a four-block campus.

(Reporting by Herbert Lash)