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STANDARD & POOR'S WILL soon lower its corporate flag at 65 Broadway, so the building's new landlord, Jeff Wasserman, is quickly mounting a multimillion-dollar campaign to remake the property.
He is rewiring it, refurbishing the elevators, adding a hologram display to the staid lobby and creating a business incubator for high-tech start-ups on three floors--all in hopes of finding 30 to 40 businesses to fill the 351,000-square-foot edifice, which will empty out next year when S&P departs for 55 Water St.
Mr. Wasserman will try to distinguish the WorldWar I-vintage property he bought last month with amenities such as low-cost, high-capacity phone service, provided by a company he operates. "It costs nothing to hang up a banner and call yourself a tech center," says Mr. Wasserman. "But it takes a tremendous amount of expertise and money to create a true technology building."
Major tenants may retrench
Mr. Wasserman actually has little choice. While the downtown real estate market has improved sharply, with higher rents and fewer vacancies, at least 15 properties there have a quarter-million or more square feet of available space apiece.
Worse, the volatile stock market has injected fear into downtown. Property sales have already slowed, and landlords are rushing to complete leases, concerned about major retrenchment by the financial services firms that continue to dominate the district.
The anxiety is heightened by the possibility that the New York Stock Exchange will move from the heart of the financial district to the western reaches of Battery Park City or the Jersey shoreline.
"You'd have to be...