CBS signs Hudson Sq. lease.

While it may not exactly qualify as an amenity in a neighborhood in which billions of dollars of transportation infrastructure and office and residential development are being built, downtown will soon be able to count a never fuzzy CBS radio signal on both the AM and FM dials as an added perk.

CBS Radio has signed on for roughly 80,000 s/f at 345 Hudson Street, space it plans to use to consolidate the operations of four of its stations WFAN, WNEW, WINS, and Jack FM. The company leased the 17-story building's entire 11th floor and part of 10 and has expansion rights that could bring its presence in the building to as much as 160,000 s/f within the next few years.

Cushman & Wakefield broker Gary Greenspan represented CBS in the deal, which capped a challenging search, sources indicate, because not many buildings are equipped with the kind of infrastructure appropriate for the needs of a radio station.

345 Hudson Street was one of the dings that the station had looked at with rents in the $30s per s/f whose rooftop, where broadcasting antennas will be erected, offered the kind of unobstructed views ideal for transmitting radio signals.

The building also has risers that can accommodate the station's need for vertical pathways in which to lay various conduits such as electrical wiring and fiber-optic cable that will run between its floors and the roof.

The stations were previously scattered throughout the city with WFAN occupying space in Long Island City, Jack in 1515 Broadway, and WINS and WNEW in 888 Seventh Avenue.

The deal is one among an upcoming flurry of activity that brokers are predicting for Hudson Square, whose principal landlord, Trinity Real Estate --the owner of 345 Hudson Street--has struggled in recent years to stay ahead of the neighborhood's high vacancy rates.

But sources say that the firm, which is owned by Trinity Church, is on the cusp of a few hundreds of thousands of square feet of deals that will shore up much of the vacancy in its portfolio.

The firm is currently said to be wrapping up a deal with Home Depot to bring its third Manhattan store to 345 Hudson Street.