"Over the past few months," Conde Nast has "taken a look at" One Chase Manhattan Plaza and the spaces at the World Financial Center at Battery Park City that used to house The Wall Street Journal in addition to One World Trade Center, which was formerly known as the Freedom Tower and is under construction at Ground Zero, according to an article yesterday by John Koblin and Eliot Brown at the observer.com.

"Based on conversations with multiple real estate executives, government officials and Conde Nast sources," the article said, "they are pursuing the tower more aggressively than some of the other would-be offices Conde has looked at in the past few years. 'It's certainly not bluffing,' said a Conde Nast executive to The Observer. 'It's a serious look.'

Conde Nast, which relocated its offices 11 years ago into the new skyscraper developed by the Durst Organization at 4 Times Square on the northeast corner of Broadway and 42nd Street, has also approached the Bloomberg administration to discuss a move from midtown to the One World Trade Center, "suggesting the effort is a serious one," the article said.

Conde Nast's lease at 4 Times Square is set to expire in April 2019, and its interest in One World Trade Center "comes as the Port Authority is about to choose between one of three private developers - Related Companies chairman and Time Warner Center builder Stephen Ross; Boston Properties chairman and Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman; and 4 Times Square landlord Douglas Durst - to buy a stake in the building and take the lead in leasing the tower," the article said.

"Of the bids made by those three suitors," the article continued, "the one from Mr. Durst is clearly aided by Conde Nast's interest, since he could easily let the company out of its current lease early. Mr. Durst, who wooed Conde 14 years ago to Times Square, would presumably be far more willing to excuse the publisher from paying for its full 20-year lease if it is moving into another building that he controls.

Conde Nast got a subsidy package from the city when it moved to Times Square, according to a government official familiar with talks and the article maintained that leaving 4 Times Square "early would require a renegotiation with the city."

In October 2007, Conde Nast partnered with Douglas Durst, its current landlord, to bid to develop the sprawling West Side rail yards near the Javits Convention Center. Conde Nast was to be his anchor tenant, taking 1.5 million square feet.

Mr. Durst, however, was not selected by the MTA and Conde began looking elsewhere.

"And how do Conde Nast employees feel about potentially moving, especially if the move is to One World Trade Center? The early reaction has been predictably poor. 'Everyone thinks the building is haunted,' said one Conde Nast veteran. 'There's not one person from editors on down who wants to move down there,'" according to the article.