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Prior to deciding it will remain in Manhattan, NatWest Markets signed a $4.86 million a year lease--and received a multimillion-dollar tax incentive package from the state--for its move to Stamford, the Business Journal has learned.
Christopher "Kip" Bergstrom, director of economic development in Stamford, said that in his experiences it is "extremely rare" for a company to reverse a relocation decision after entering such commitments.
Bergstrom and Stamford real estate analysts "conservatively" valued the lease NatWest signed Oct. 27, 1997, for 180,000 square feet of office space in Harbor Plaza at $27 per square foot. At that price, NatWest would pay $4.86 million annually, or about $405,00 a month.
Bergstrom said the lease was for a minimum of 10 years, allowing NatWest Markets to qualify for a tax incentive package it accepted from the state.
On Jan. 29, NatWest put the Harbor Plaza space on the sublease market, and will continue paying down on the lease until the company finds a tenant, Bergstrom said.
Dennis Friedrich, a director of the New York City corporate real estate firm of Jones Lang Wootton, declined comment other than to say he was looking for tenants on behalf of NatWest to sublease the space.
Arthur Collins, a general manager of H.P. Associates L.L.C., which owns Harbor Plaza, did not return telephone calls.
However, Michael Siegel, executive director of Insignia/Rostenberg-Doern of Stamford, and Jay Hruska, a director of Cushman and Wakefield,...