The Cranford, N.J.-based REIT reports that it had secured a total of 151,000 sf in lease deals during the fourth quarter of last year. The largest deal was with Ameriquest Mortgage Company, an Orange, Calif., -based mortgage lender who signed a five-year lease at Mack-Cali's Mid-Westchester Executive Park complex. Ameriquest will operate a new regional loan office at the 50,000-sf office flex property that is 98.7 percent leased. Gerard Lees of Cushman & Wakefield of Connecticut and John Gillespie of Newport Commercial Realty represented Ameriquest in the lease transaction.

Commenting on the firm's Westchester-Connecticut property performance in the fourth quarter and prospects for the future, Mitchell E. Hersh, chief executive officer of Mack-Cali, says, "Despite an uncertain economy, we continue to see healthy demand from leading corporations interested in leasing Mack-Cali's prime suburban office space."

Other major deals announced by Mack-Cali, which has its Westchester-Connecticut operations headquartered in Elmsford, include a 14,630 sf lease by Thomson-Leeds Company, Inc., a retail communications firm, at One Water St., in White Plains. Thomson-Leeds signed the lease for a 10 year-term at the 45,700-sf building that is currently 68 percent occupied. William Cuddy and Glenn Isaacson of Insignia/ESG, Inc., represented the tenant in the deal.