Two of the three floors Thacher Proffitt & Wood is readying for business in the 840,000-sf tower at 11 W. 42nd St. are subleased for four-year terms and one floor in the 32-story building is subleased for six years, firm chairman Jack Williams tells GlobeSt.com. A source close to the deal says the price per sf is in the high $30s.

Thacher, which also has offices in White Plains, Jersey City and Washington, DC had a relocation committee in place by the end of the day last Tuesday, the day of the attacks, Williams tells GlobeSt.com. "Relocation committee chairman Joe Forte knows everybody in the real estate community," he says. "The committee called us back Wednesday evening with ideas and by Thursday noon I got the authorization to sign for the space. We secured the space on Thursday afternoon and by Friday a deal had been struck." Williams says the lease was signed Monday."

While Williams says decisions regarding long-term quarters for the firm have yet to be made, the one sure thing is that it will retain its New York City presence. "Whether we'll like it better here than downtown, who knows? But we will stay in New York. Where we'll wind up, Midtown, Downtown--we'll see how things go before we make a firm decision. We may stay here forever. The main thing was to get back to work."

Tony Rolfe of local tenant rep firm the Rolfe Group represented Thacher Proffitt in the transaction. Cushman & Wakefield broker Robert Giglio represented the sublessor, Netherlands-based VNU Marketing Information Services Inc., with the permission of managing agent Tishman Speyer.

"We got the call Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. and all of a sudden we found 100,000 sf of space," Rolfe tells GlobeSt.com." One of the real estate attorneys called me and we pumped everything into the computer, narrowed it down to 40 locations, then five. We looked at price, possession and location, ran down the list and bingo, we had it."

Thacher Proffitt employees are already getting set up in the new space, the firm's new phone system is working and employees say they expect the 153-year-old firm to have its Midtown offices ready for business on Monday.

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