Investment Banks Ink Relocation, Expansion Deals

NEW YORK CITY-Global investment bank and institutional securities firm Jeffries & Co. Inc., and UniCredito Italiano, Italy’s largest bank, are both changing their living conditions. Jeffries has expanded onto a fourth floor at 520 Madison Ave. while UniCredito will abandon its longtime Seagrams building home for newly renovated space at 430 Park Ave.

UniCredito has inked a 15-year deal for 16,400 sf at the 18-story Bank of Montreal building, 430 Park Ave. Cushman & Wakefield associate director David Dusek represented the tenant in the relocation of its North American headquarters, while C&W executive vice president Mitch Konsker brokered for building owner Oestreicher Properties. Starting rent is in the high $60s. Built in the 1920s at the corner of 55th St., the 277,000-sf building was converted from residential to office use in 1954 and is currently undergoing extensive renovations.

The bank is expected to move from its similarly sized space in the L. Mies van der Rohe-designed Seagrams building–where it had done business for 30 years–in February 2003. “Seagrams was asking too much in rent for what [the tenant] was getting,” Dusek tells GlobeSt.com. “And it’s a landmark building, so they weren’t able to make as many changes as they wanted.” Dusek adds that the bank’s new quarters offer “a better layout for their needs, more efficient space and a newly renovated building.”

Meanwhile, Jeffries & Co., based here, has expanded its space at 520 Madison by 29,107 sf to include the entire fifth floor. Cushman’s Dale Schlather represented the bank in negotiating the six-and-a-half-year lease with building owner Tishman Speyer Properties.

Asking rents in the building are $82 per sf, though some sublet space is listed as low as $59 per sf. Tishman representatives will not comment on the lease. Jeffries, which has already occupied the new space, now leases four floors of the 43-story tower.