CBRE has been selected by Bunge Ltd., the global supplier of agricultural commodities, to be the exclusive agent handling the subleasing of its space on three floors at 50 Main St. in White Plains.
The 66,303 square feet of space comprises the building’s sixth, seventh and eighth floors. CBRE is marketing a sublease running through June 2025. In August, the Business Journal reported that Bunge was moving its global headquarters from White Plains to the St. Louis, Missouri, metropolitan area, representing the loss of about 150 jobs for White Plains.
Brian Carcaterra, Michael McCall and Ryan Christie are heading up the assignment from CBRE”™s Westchester/Fairfield office in Stamford. The 15-story building at Main and Bank streets is part of City Square, owned by Ginsburg Development Cos. Originally the Westchester Financial Center, Ginsburg has been reinventing the site to incorporate new residential and retail spaces along with a 2-acre park and other amenities.
Carcaterra told the Business Journal that a sublease running only until 2025 could fit right in with the needs of some prospects looking for fairly short-term occupancy. He said some companies need swing space during renovations.
“Some companies don’t mind having back-end exposure and are happy to sublease for a term and then, if need be, move again,” according to Carcaterra. “Prospects for a property this large may need the space for a number of different reasons, which may have different term objectives.”
He suggested that the space is large when compared with the spaces occupied by many other businesses in White Plains and that a tenant needing the space for longer could seek a direct extension with Ginsburg Development Cos.
Carcaterra said the size and scope of CBRE’s operations will enable it to “cast the net far and wide” in seeking potential users of the space. “It’s headquarters-quality space with the highest-end finishes and the most state-of-the-art design and development,” he said. “The standards are current and the layout accommodates today’s workplace standards.”
Those standards have changed somewhat because of the internet culture and increased interest in working at home.
“Telecommuting and remote workplace locations have impacted the workplace,” he said. “Our industry standard for office space used to be about 250 square feet per person and now it’s approximately 200 square feet per person. That’s a 20% reduction, which is obviously a huge difference.”
Carcaterra said lifestyle amenities available at a property are increasingly important for attracting prospects in today’s office leasing market.
“Fitness, collaboration areas, space to work outside of one’s cubicle or office, outdoor space, high-quality healthy food services, quality and value. Space must support the attraction and retention of employees,” he said.
Also significant is the property’s location, in this case diagonally across from the Metro-North Railroad station.
“It’s not often you have the confluence of the highest quality space, exceptional real estate, located on the train 35 minutes from Grand Central, priced well below half of midtown Manhattan rents. The usual suspects of Westchester’s elite businesses will be on our list. Several of them have already contacted us. The White Plains central business district is as strong as it’s been in my 17 years working the market,” he said.
