Vice reportedly leaving Williamsburg HQ that displaced Death by Audio & Glasslands, laying people off

The media world is buzzing from news that Vice Media laid off a significant number of staff on Thursday. Variety reports that around 20 staffers from Vice Digital and Refinery29 were given immediate notice today, most from the digital content division. Chief Digital Officer Cory Haik said in a statement that Vice was realigning in order to “focus on building content for our digital communities in the native ways they consume it. As part of this continued global alignment we’ve unfortunately had to say goodbye to some of our friends and colleagues today. We wish them well and thank them for their dedicated service over the years,”

Vice are also relocating their NYC HQ to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, according to The Real Deal, specifically to Dock 72 which is an “office building developed by Rudin Management and Boston Properties in cooperation with WeWork” and will be taking “four or five floors” of the 675,000-square-foot building. They also report that Vice’s current other sites will be put on the market — including the Kent Avenue and South Second building in Williamsburg that opened in 2015 and displaced music venues Death by Audio and Glasslands, that closed at the end of 2014. 285 Kent closed months earlier in January, but those associated with the shuttered DIY venue tell us that pressure from Vice on the landlords is ultimately why that venue had to close too.

Vice’s other sites include 99 North 10th Street  in Williamsburg, and 55 Washington Street in DUMBO.