Bank of New York Mellon, the world's largest custody bank, is reportedly set to sell its headquarters tower in lower Manhattan, New York City, to Macklowe Properties for $585 million.
The building, located at 1 Wall Street, will be sold to a consortium of investors led by Macklowe Properties. The deal is expected to be completed by the end of the third quarter. The transaction was brokered by the CBRE Group.
"We're pleased to have reached this agreement. Once finalized, it will advance our plan to consolidate office space in New York City, lead to a more functional and efficient work environment for our employees and deliver a solid financial gain to the company," Gerald L. Hassell, chairman and chief executive officer of BNY Mellon, said in an official statement.
News of the agreement comes just a month after BNY Mellon announced that it was looking to sell the building. The decision came in as part of effort to curb expenses as the company continues to struggle with low interest rates, the Wall Street Journal reported.
"We're taking aggressive action in virtually every expense category," Hasell said in an earlier statement adding that compliance and regulatory costs had "risen substantially" and continue to remain high. The company is also planning layoffs through, June but didn't disclose much.
"We're not disclosing locations, numbers or groups," said Ron Gruendl, a spokesman for BNY Mellon, to the Business Journal.
It also declared that it was looking to move its headquarters to a new location and will be leasing back space in the building until it moves.
"We expect to announce our decision for new leased space in the New York region in the next two months," Hassell added in the statement.
According to MarketWatch, BNY Mellon is already under talks of leasing more than 400,000 square feet of space at 225 Liberty Street.
About 1 Wall Street
BNY Mellon had purchased the tower at 1 Wall Street, in 1989, from the Irving Trust Company. The building is one of the oldest Art Deco structures of New York City. Spanning an area of about 1.1 million square feet, the building offers 50 floors of office space.
