Bank of New York Mellon, the world's largest custody bank, has reportedly signed a lease to rent 35,000-square-feet of space at the Brookfield Place in lower Manhattan, New York City.
The bank has signed a 20-year-lease to rent seven floors in the building located at 225 Liberty Street and will reportedly be paying $425 million for the lease, reports The Wall Street Journal.
News of the lease comes just a month after it agreed to sell its current headquarters at 1 Wall Street to Macklowe Properties for a deal worth $585 million.
"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.
At that time, the bank said it wanted to move to cut costs and also declared that it was looking at office properties in New York City and New Jersey.
However, to keep the bank in the city, the New York's state development agency - Empire State Development - offered a $23 million financial incentive package to the bank.
"We're not disclosing locations, numbers or groups," said Ron Gruendl, a spokesman for BNY Mellon, to the Business Journal. "We expect to announce our decision for new leased space in the New York region in the next two months."
But the announcement came within a month. Spokespersons for BNY Mellon said that the new space will allow the firm to operate efficiently and also save workspace, about 650,000-square-feet lesser of what it occupied earlier.
"New York City has been home to BNY Mellon since our founding by Alexander Hamilton in 1784. Our decision to remain anchored near our facilities at 101 Barclay Street gives us the opportunity to create a corporate campus with state-of-the-art facilities to serve our clients for decades to come. We evaluated a number of sites in several states where we have existing facilities, factoring in the quality of the work environment and amenities for our employees," CEO Hasell said in a statement Wednesday.
About Brookfield Place
Brookfield Place, which was previously known as the World Financial Center, is an office complex that spans an area of eight million square feet. Overlooking the Hudson River, the complex is home to many affluent buildings and companies like Bank of America, Nomura Group and Brookfield Asset Management.
"We have now successfully leased approximately 2.6 million square feet at Brookfield Place over the last 12 months and the occupancy level at the complex is approaching 90%," the Commercial Observer quoted Brookfield CEO Dennis Friedrich.
