At Least a Nomura-Less Brookfield Has the Winter Garden
By Matt Chaban June 29, 2011 1:44 pm
reprints
Nomura has shaken off its tremor-induded indecisiveness and decided it will be moving to Worldwide Plaza from the World Financial Center.
As recently as the middle of May, the major Japanese bank was still waffling between Worldwide Plaza and re-upping at Brookfield’s WFC, and there were even talks about splitting between the two spaces, as The Observer reported at the time. Nomura had been one of the most sought after tenants in the city.
So much for everybody going downtown.
Still, there is promise at the World Financial Center. Even if Brookfield’s mildly controversial plans to spruce up the Winter Garden could not keep Nomura from moving, it should pay off for the company and the area.
The ostensible reason for Brookfield’s $250 million renovations, which were made official two weeks ago, is to create a more inviting space for current and prospective tenants. It’s the same thing Goldman Sachs is doing next door. But, at the same time, as The Post‘s Steve Cuozzo outlined, the renovations will put an emphasis on retail.
Many people forget, but the mall at the World Trade Center used to be the busiest in the city, and one of the top retail spots in the country. With the flood of tourists bound for the 9/11 Memorial this fall and into the future, this will only be moreso the case. Considering much of the retail planned for the World Trade Center is still years away from completion, Brookfield could stand to gain a fair bit in the retail-tenanting game, if not the office-leasing one.
It will be tough taking the sting out of losing a tenant that fills nearly a million square feet of space, especially with two million more coming due soon, but every little bit helps.
