SEC Will Return to Lower Manhattan

NEW YORK CITY-The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to return to Lower Manhattan and inked a deal for 235,000 sf of space at Brookfield Properties’ 3 World Financial Center, according to sources. The SEC had been located at 7 World Trade Center prior to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and has been at the Woolworth Building ever since. Officials from Brookfield Properties would not comment. Joe Harkins, principal with the Staubach Co. represented the SEC in the transaction.

Last November, American Express signed a new 18-year lease for 155,000 sf at the 52-story site. The new lease covers floors 19 and 24 and part of floors 25 and 26. Early in 2004, law firm Morgan & Finnegan LLP signed a 20-year lease for two full floors, just more than 100,000 sf, at the site. The firm was originally located near Wall Street since its inception in 1893, including 30 Broad St. and 80 Pine.