Argent has grown considerably in the last year or so. In early 2003, the company relocated from offices in Hawthorne to 118,000 sf of space at the former Kraft Foods building at 333 Westchester Ave. Since then, the company has expanded its operations there and currently leases approximately 210,000 sf at the complex, according to Kevin Clark, facilities manager for the White Plains market for Argent Mortgage.

Gerald E. Lees, senior director of Cushman & Wakefield of Connecticut and John Gillespie of Newport Commercial Realty Advisors represented Argent Mortgage in the lease transaction talks. Gregory V. Frisoli, associate director of C&W of Connecticut and Edward J. Weiss, vice chairman of C&W in New York represented the building owner Nicholas J. Pepe of Westchester One LLC.

Clark says that Argent, a subprime mortgage firm, employed approximately 150 workers a little more than a year ago. Today, the company has 600 employers at its offices at 333 Westchester Ave. Argent eventually plans to have more than 1,500 people working at its two White Plains offices.

Cushman's Lees says of the deal, "Argent selected 44 South Broadway because of its central location, superior infrastructure, sizable floor plates and the opportunity for future expansion."

Argent's Clark says the firm plans to continue to operate two offices in White Plains. He had no comment on why Argent did not expand its office presence at 333 Westchester Ave., although the former Kraft property would not have been able to fulfill the entire 223,366-sf requirement. Argent, which was formerly the wholesale division of Ameriquest Mortgage, is headquartered in Irvine, CA.

"Despite the complexities inherent in a transaction of this size, Argent was able to lease the amount of space it needed at 44 South Broadway in a relatively short amount of time," Cushman's Frisoli says

The 44 South Broadway property has been the focal point of leasing activity in recent times, mainly from companies taking advantage of sublease space put on the market by IBM. With the Argent lease, the 850,000-sf Westchester One property has approximately 120,000 sf of space available for lease, Cushman officials note