Sumitomo Bank Signs Major Lease in Downtown White Plains
John Jordan | May 25, 2017
WHITE PLAINS—Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., which had been in the market for some time looking for approximately 100,000 square feet of available space in White Plains, has finally picked its new office location—the Gateway Building in Downtown White Plains.
CBRE reports it has brokered a 101,000-square-foot lease with Tokyo-based Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. at the glass office building at 1 North Lexington Ave. The bank has committed to a 13-year lease at the property.
The CBRE team of William V. Cuddy, Jr. and Jacqueline Novotny represented the building ownership, Gateway One Group, in the lease negotiations as the exclusive leasing agents for the White Plains office property. Williams Peters, Derek Trulson, Robert Ageloff and Paul Tortora of Jones Lang LaSalle acted on behalf of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.
“The quality institutional ownership and the property’s phenomenal Class A office space, as well as its central location—just a block from the White Plains Metro North Train Station and White Plains Transportation Center—made 1 North Lexington Avenue the ideal location for Sumitomo Mitsui,” says Cuddy, who has been the exclusive leasing agent for the building for 20 years. During his tenure, he has helped attract such high-profile corporate space users as Alliance Bernstein, GuildNet, Chase Bank, and many others to the building’s tenant roster.
“Sumitomo Mitsui’s commitment to the property is part of an early trend of the increased interest from New York City tenants coming into downtown White Plains looking for more reasonable rental rates. Tenants value the live, work and play environment and appreciate the advantage of the convenient commute to Manhattan,” Novotny adds.
White Plains Mayor Tom Roach released a statement on the importance of the corporate relocation deal to the City of White Plains: “We are pleased to welcome Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation to our city. We’ve worked hard to create an environment that’s attractive to employers and residents alike and it’s gratifying to see our efforts bear fruit. The hundreds of jobs that SMBC will bring to the city will add to the vibrancy of our downtown and provide economic benefits to our downtown businesses.”
The Westchester office market has not been a stranger to large lease deals of late. New York Life Insurance Co. inked a 146,870-square-foot lease at 44 South Broadway in White Plains last year. Other notable lease deals in Downtown White Plains have included VMTurbo’s 33,738-square-foot lease at the Gateway Building and Sidney Frank’s 29,754-square-foot relocation to 10 Bank St. In addition, DanoneWave will begin construction soon on its approximately 100,000 square feet of new space at the Source at White Plains. The yogurt maker will be relocating from its current North American headquarters totaling more than 77,000 square feet at 100 Hillside Ave. in Greenburgh.
Editor, Real Estate In-Depth