News
A SUBURBAN JAUNT WITH W&M & CBRE
September 2, 2009
| We’ve written about W&H Properties here in Manhattan, but what about its 2M-SF sister suburban trophy portfolio headed by W&MProperties? We dropped by its Stamford office to meet with Jeffrey Newman, who gave us the latest on its transit-hub buildings. |
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| Jeffrey tells us more blue-chip companies are also looking to relocate to White Plains, which completed a transformation similar to Stamford’s a decade ago. W&M—which operates Metro Center and First Stamford Place at the Stamford Transportation Center; 500 Mamaroneck in Harrison, NY; MerrittView at Route 7 and the Merritt Parkway in Norwalk; and Ten Bank Street at the White Plains Transportation Center—has seen a premium for easy accessibility and amenities. Many tenants recognize and are taking advantage of the opportunities to upgrade and house operations within W&M’s portfolio, he says, including tenants from Greenwich and NYC, who can trade quality buildings and spaces at discounted rents. |
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| Did the Met move to Stamford? Nope, just Metro Center’s beaut of a lobby. As markets stabilize, tenants recognize that now is the time to pull the trigger on space decisions, he adds. Recent deals that W&M has signed include: Endurance U.S. Holdings Corp.’s seven-year, 6.3k-SF lease at 300 First Stamford Place; LaBranche’s 3.3k-SF lease at Metro Center; Protravel International’s 7k-SF expansion/lease assumption at 500 Mamaroneck; Eka Software Solutions’ 2.2k-SF lease at MerrittView; Edelman Financial’s 2.5k-SF lease at Ten Bank, and Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott’s 5.2k-SF expansion/extension at Ten Bank. For existing tenants, it’s important that owners have a proactive pulse on and work to accommodate their evolving needs, he notes. |
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| W&M is also a year into its development of Stamford's Metro Green at the Transportation Center, with a ribbon cutting scheduled in September for the 50-unit workforce housing; it’s phase one of the 238-unit residential component being developed with JV partner the Jonathan Rose Cos. The project also includes a 350k-SF office tower named Metro Tower (noticing a pattern?), for which W&M is targeting LEED Platinum. Even with W&M’s busy schedule, Jeffrey tells us he’s taken time to enjoy the summer, including a trip to Paris for his wife’s birthday, tennis, and piano playing. |
