Wells Fargo Finally Wins in the Office-Space Race—And Big
By Laura Kusisto April 6, 2011 2:34 am
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Wells Fargo (WFC) has learned a lesson from the last time it tarried. Just days after rumors surfaced the bank was mulling 150 East 42nd Street, it has sealed the deal.
We’ve learned that the San Francisco-based firm has signed a 16-year lease for 275,000 square feet at Hiro‘s imposing 42-story silver tower between Lexington and Third avenues. Its new home in the fashionably high-end Grand Central submarket is actually a step up from the former Philip Morris headquarters at 120 Park Avenue, where it was a whisker away from a 300,000-square-foot lease. Instead, Bloomberg took 400,000 square feet there, thrusting Wells Fargo back out into a market already crowded with large tenants on the hunt.
The bank has taken a whopping 13 floors at 150 East 42nd, including the 27th through 32nd floors and the 35th floor to the top of the building. That brings Wells Fargo, which was spread throughout several offices, much closer together. At 120 Park Avenue, the firm was expected to pay in the $50s per square foot, but taking rents at 150 East 42nd ranged from $55 to $75 a square foot. There are, however, reasons to celebrate, including impressive concessions that include tenant improvements worth $75 a square foot and 12 months’ free rent.
This brings the building to largely full, but for a roughly 150,000-square-foot block of space on the ninth and 10th floors, according to CoStar.
Wells Fargo’s broker, Eastdil‘s Ben Lambert, could not be reached for comment. The landlord also could not be reached.
lkusisto@observer.com
