NEW YORK CITY—Catching up to the step it took in the 1990s to put its name atop the iconic 200 Park Ave.—directly above Grand Central Station—MetLife is consolidating its offices around the city into the Midtown East building, GlobeSt.com has confirmed.
The insurance giant's new 12-year lease boosts the insurance firm's presence at 200 Park by approximately 430,000 square feet. It currently leases about 100,000 square feet at the Tishman Speyer building for roughly 450 employees.
Cushman & Wakefield's Bruce Mosler and John Cefaly represented the tenant in the deal. Tishman Speyer was represented in house for the transaction.
Meanwhile, the shift creates pockets of availability all around town. MetLife will be moving in phases from 1095 Ave. of the Americas, 277 Park Ave. and 27-01 Queens Plaza North, in Long Island City, to this one central location beginning in December 2016. All moves are slated for completion by the first half of 2017. A spokesman says MetLife intends to sublease its Sixth avnue and Long Island City space.
The company is combining its area offices in order to formulate a “state-of-the-art space designed to foster collaboration among our New York City employees, similar to our new campuses in Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina,” says a spokesman.
Of course, financial savings also played a role. The space at 200 Park Ave. simply is less expensive than that at 1095 Ave. of the Americas, the spokesman tells the Wall Street Journal.
The latter building—also known as Three Bryant Park—was acquired in January by Ivanhoé Cambridge and its partner, Callahan Capital Properties for over $2 billion.
MetLife acquired its new headquarters in 1980 when it was known as the Pan Am building. Once the airline departed the building in 1993, MetLife put its now legendary sign onto the top of the three-million-square-foot tower.
Irvine Co. currently holds a 97.3% stake in 200 Park Ave. but Tishman is a managing partner and retains a small stake, according to the Journal. Tishman Speyer declined to comment to GlobeSt.com.
Prior to the execution of the new lease, Barclays PLC leased 335,000 square feet at the MetLife tower but recently agreed to exit the space, the Journal reports.
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Rayna Katz
Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
