One prominent developer is about to close on the purchase of a Harrison office building vacated in the recession by a prominent banking tenant.
An interested buyer is expected to ask Harrison town officials to permit a new use for the Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper property that went on the market for sale in late 2009.
A New York financial services firm this summer will open a new global trading division at its newly rented office space in Purchase, where one of Westchester County”™s long-time corporate tenants recently renewed its headquarters lease.
As spring approaches, Westchester”™s commercial office market shows signs of emerging from its long hibernation.
Robert P. Weisz, head of RPW Group Inc. in Rye Brook, is in contract to buy 450 Mamaroneck Ave., a four-story, 158,000-square-foot class-A office building in Harrison. Known as the Citicorp Building, the former headquarters of Citicorp North America Inc. and other Citicorp companies was vacated after their parent company, Citigroup Inc., incurred severe financial losses in the 2008 financial crisis and required a $25-billion federal government bailout.
The vacant building adjoins another Weisz-owned property at 440 Mamaroneck Ave. RPW Group in 2006 paid $33.25 million for the 240,000-square-foot building on 20 acres. Formerly occupied by The Bank of New York, the building was renovated by the developer to accommodate multiple tenants. The class-A building now is 99 percent leased.
The adjoining properties were developed in the late ”˜70s as part of the two-building Harrison Plaza complex.
Weisz said a confidentiality agreement prevented him from disclosing details of the pending deal, which is expected to close in a few weeks. “When we do this building, it”™s going to be a very unique project that”™s going to be out of the box,” he did say.
The Westchester County Industrial Development Agency recently gave it preliminary approval of an incentives package to induce financing for the project.
As at his other Westchester office properties, Weisz has tapped Cushman & Wakefield as leasing agent at 440 Mamaroneck, led by broker Glenn P. Walsh, senior director at Cushman & Wakefield”™s White Plains office.
Walsh said Weisz plans to add a new cafeteria and lobby, a fitness center, a children”™s day care center and a shuttle bus service from the Metro-North Railroad station in Mamaroneck.
Though asking rents have not been set, “We”™re going to be aggressively marketing price-wise,” said Walsh. “He”™s opening doors for tenants from day one. He is ready to rock and roll. He”™s offering the usual amenities for RPW tenants.”
At 1 Gannett Drive in Harrison, a reliable real estate source said an unnamed new owner is ready to close on the 25-acre property and 232,000-square-foot office and warehouse building that houses editorial operations of The Journal News. Gannett closed the daily newspaper”™s printing plant and eliminated nearly 170 jobs there about one year ago, when it shifted production operations to Rockaway, N.J.
The source said the buyer first must get town officials”™ approval of a change in use for the property. A Harrison employee said no application has been filed with the town planning and zoning boards.
In Purchase, Westchester will receive an expanding financial services firm as a new corporate tenant in July, when Guggenheim Partners L.L.C. plans to open it new trading division, Guggenheim Global Trading L.L.C, in The Centre at Purchase.
Based in Manhattan, Guggenheim Partners has leased 31,142 square feet at 4 Manhattanville Road and will occupy half of the top floor of the four-story building. The future trading space was part of the 122,000 square feet of office space vacated in 2009 by Diversified Investment Advisors when the company relocated to RPW Group”™s 440 Mamaroneck Ave.
“We wanted a space with first-class amenities and in a location proximate to the major thruways in the area, so we can attract and retain the best talent,” Loren Katzovitz, managing partner of Guggenheim Partners, said in a prepared statement. “The Centre (at) Purchase not only fits that bill, but exceeds our expectations.”
Guggenheim Partners was represented in the deal by Newmark Knight Frank”™s Daniel Madison, executive managing director, and E.N. Cutler, managing director, from the firm”™s New York City office, and Stephen M. Banker, managing principal of Newmark Knight Frank”™s Greenwich, Conn., office. Michael J. McCall, managing director at Newmark Knight Frank in Greenwich, represented the office-park owner, OCC Purchase L.L.C., a joint venture between George Comfort & Sons Inc. and O”™Connor Capital Partners.
McCall said Guggenheim Partners seriously considered opening their global trading unit at 100 W. Putnam Ave. in Greenwich. “They boomeranged back here,” he said. Rental rates at The Centre at Purchase are about one-third less than Greenwich office rates, he said.
An established Centre at Purchase tenant, Hitachi Metals America Ltd., signed a 10-year lease renewal for 24,328 square feet at 2 Manhattanville Road. A manufacturer of permanent magnets, Hitachi Metals has been headquartered on the Purchase office campus since 2002.
