PepsiCo to lease former Starwood headquarters

PepsiCo Inc. will lease the former White Plains headquarters of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., where about 700 PepsiCo employees will work during a 2 ½ -year renovations project at PepsiCo”™s Purchase headquarters.

The approximately $243 million project is scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2013 and employ about 1,250 construction workers over its 30-month course.

PepsiCo employees will temporarily be moved from the Anderson Hill Road campus, where the food and beverage giant employs about 1,100 workers, to 234,000 square feet of swing space at 1111 Westchester Ave. in White Plains. Starwood vacated the Platinum Mile office building about one year ago and relocated about 800 employees to its new Harbor Point headquarters in Stamford, Conn.

PepsiCo also will place Purchase employees at its PepsiCo Beverages Americas division headquarters in Somers during the renovations.

PepsiCo officials told the Westchester County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) that the company will spend about $10 million to renovate the White Plains building. The IDA approved a sales tax exemption for PepsiCo”™s purchases to furnish and equip the swing space.

Eileen Mildenberger, the county IDA”™s executive director, said the exemption will amount to about $90,000 in lost sales tax revenue for the city of White Plains.