DEALS DU JOUR :

Greenwich Hospital fills out 900 King St.
By ALEX PHILIPPIDIS :: December 9, 2006

It took more than a decade, but 900 King St. in Rye Brook has finally filled all its office space thanks to a new deal signed in recent days.

Greenwich (Conn.) Hospital has inked a 30,000 square foot lease to base administrative staffers just over the town and state lines. The deal brings the 203,900-square-foot building to 100 percent occupancy, and wraps up a leasing effort several years in the making, said Christopher O’Callaghan, a senior director with Cushman & Wakefield who represented 900 King for its owner, Wafra Investment Advisory Group Inc. of New York City.

Completed in 1981 for Armonk-based IBM Corp., 900 King has been vacant since the computer giant moved out in 1991. The pullout forced the building's then-owner into Chapter 11 bankruptcy and cede title to its lender, Cigna Corp.

In 1998, Cigna sold the facility for $10.75 million to a partnership led by Wafra Investment Advisory Group Inc. of New York City. Wafra allowed minority partner Brickman Associates to manage the site and carry out $5 million in lobby and elevator work completed in 2001. But the building remained empty as tenants used rent quotations as leverage to make better deals at nearby Reckson Executive Park, or just didn’t go through with deals at all.

Wafra took over the building in 2003 and soon after brought in O’Callaghan (then of McCarthy-O’Callaghan), and soon after announced its own plan for $10 million in renovations – for which it won a sales-tax break on construction materials from the county Industrial Development Agency.

The second fix-up proved to be the charm for 900 King. Wafra rang out 2003 by signing a 135,000-square-foot lease with Cadbury Schweppes plc’s Americas Beverages unit. That deal consolidated the offices of two well-known brands of consumables – Snapple

Rockwood Capital, White Plains beckons
By ALEX PHILIPPIDIS :: December 9, 2006

Rockwood Capital Corp., a real estate investment firm with more than $1.5 billion in properties under management, will move its Greenwich, Conn., offices to White Plains. Rockwood has signed a lease for 14,000 square feet at 10 Bank St., a downtown office building a block south of the city’s Metro-North Railroad station.

As a result Rockwood stands to gain previously-discussed tax breaks from the Westchester County Industrial Development Agency. The IDA agreed in principle last September to award the firm a $100,000 exemption from state and county sales taxes on construction materials and office equipment if it moved to White Plains. Rockwood would receive the maximum under the IDA’s “Small Business Equipment Financing” program.

Christopher O’Callaghan, a senior director with Cushman & Wakefield, represented Rockwood in a search the company said also included sites in Greenwich – though not Rockwood’s current home, 325 Greenwich Ave.

10 Bank St. is a 220,000-square-foot building owned by partners in W&M Properties, the Stamford, Conn., firm that serves as the building’s leasing and managing agent. W&M executive vice president Jeffrey H. Newman confirmed the lease signing a few weeks back.

(Top of Page)