Following a shocker from a couple of weeks back that UBS is considering moving some of its offices from Stamford, Conn., to the World Trade Center (if only for the sake of the social lives of those poor, young traders raking in six-figure salaries) comes another rumor that a major bank is checking out the shiny new towers under way.
A source said that Morgan Stanley, which is in the market for 800,000 square feet, has also kicked around the idea of a move to the World Trade Center site—as sure a sign as any that the center could once again become integral to the country’s finance industry.
Well, not so fast, said another source, who noted that Larry Silverstein is in no hurry to sign tenants right now, preferring to wait until towers two, three and four are closer to completion and he can fetch rents possibly into the triple digits per square foot on the upper floors.
Meanwhile, it was earlier reported that Morgan Stanley was mulling a move to Goldman’s dowager former headquarters at 85 Broad Street, but a source close to the matter said the bank is not negotiating there.
For now, our money is on a renewal at Brookfield’s 1 New York Plaza. It might not have quite the views of its shimmering WTC counterpart, but there’s always been something to be said for the familiar.
A call earlier to Morgan Stanley’s broker, Newmark Knight Frank’s Barry Gosin, was not returned.
