The East West Bank will be expanding its New York operations and opening an office at 535 Madison Avenue.
The publicly owned Chinese-American bank will take a 14,375-square-foot space on the 8th floor of Park Tower Realty’s building.
“We have several banks in the building,” said Brain Gell, vice chairman of CBRE (CBRE) and broker for the landlord. “The tenants are primarily in the finance – banks and hedge funds.”
East West Bank will join Morgan Keegan, Canaccord Genuity, Monarch Alternative Capital, and Banco Do Brasil.
East West Bank was represented by director David Levy and principal Jeffrey Buslik from Adams & Co. in the transaction. The bank declined for comment, however. Mr. Gell was joined by Laurence Briody of CBRE as exclusive leasing agents for 535 Madison Avenue. The asking rent was at $78 per square foot.
The international law firm Sullivan & Cromwell has also signed a lease to move their Midtown conference center to the seventh floor of the building.
“Over the last two years, we’ve leased over half of the building,” Mr. Gell said. “There are two floors that are available: the 6th and 37th. The [37th floor] penthouse is a very unusual space with 28 floor ceilings and a private elevator that goes up [to it]. The views are spectacular.”
535 Madison Avenue was initially designed by architect Edward Larrabee Barnes in 1983. The 37-story 502,000 square foot building stands on the northeast corner of Madison Avenue at 54th Street with floor plates ranging from 9,000 to 14,000 square feet. The U.S. Green Building Council awarded the building with an LEED-EB certification in January.
