NEW YORK CITY-In the largest new office lease in Midtown Manhattan since 2004, financial services giant Nomura Holding America Inc. has inked a 900,000-square-foot deal to anchor Midtown’s Worldwide Plaza at 825 Eighth Ave. between 49th and 50th streets for its new US headquarters , the company unveiled Wednesday morning. By mid-2013, the company will relocate from its current home at 2 World Financial Center in Lower Manhattan, where it subleases from Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Looking to expand its US presence, Nomura will occupy 20 floors inside the 1.8-million-square-foot class A office tower, which will bring the building to 95% occupancy, says Peter S. Duncan, president and CEO of George Comfort & Sons, who heads the investment group WWP Office LLC, which owns the property. The group bought the property in 2009 for $590 million, about half of what Macklowe Properties paid for it as part of its $7.2-billion acquisition of the Equity Office Properties portfolio in early 2007.
“We are delighted to welcome one of the financial services industry’s global leaders to Worldwide Plaza,” Duncan says in a statement announcing the deal. The company will be taking 10 vacant floors, as well as 10 floors currently occupied by Universal Music Group, which is leaving the building at the end of the year. Duncan was unavailable for additional comment in time for deadline.
The deal is the biggest in Midtown since Bank of America leased 1.1 million square feet at One Bryant Park, says Cushman & Wakefield, which represented Nomura in the transaction. John Cefaly, Rob Lowe, Clark Finney and Anthony Pasqual of C&W, together with Ed Donery and David Heller of C&W’s Transactions Group, represented Nomura in the 20-year leasing transaction, while Duncan, George Comfort and EVP Matt Coudert represented the building ownership. C&W declined to comment further for this article.
In response to Nomura’s departure from the WFC, Melissa Coley, VP of investor relations and communications for landlord Brookfield Office Properties, tells GlobeSt.com there has been "various interest in the space" thus far. "The Lower Manhattan market keeps getting better and the economics have improved since we started negotiating with Nomura a year ago," Coley says.
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