60 Wall Street sold for half a billion dollars

[Edward]

From New York Post (http://www.nypost.com)

DEUTSCHE QUIETLY CLOSES ON 60 WALL

By STEVE CUOZZO

December 27, 2001 -- Realty Check


A deal that quietly closed over the holidays is bringing a giant bank's headquarters to within a 10-minute stroll from Ground Zero. So why no fanfares and drum rolls?

Deutsche Bank just completed its purchase of the 47-story 60 Wall Street (http://www.wirednewyork.com/60wall_street.htm) *tower from J.P. Morgan Chase, reports online database CoStar - climaxing Deutsche's long quest for a new Manhattan headquarters.

CoStar reports the sale price as $610 million. A different real estate source estimated it at $650 million. Neither figure could be independently verified.

The two banking giants went to contract last June - the first move in eons of a big financial firm from Midtown to Downtown. But maybe more remarkable is that the Sept. 11 attack did not knock the sale off track.

"There was no hesitation that I saw," said Insignia/ESG Vice-Chairman Robert Alexander who repped Deutsche with ESG's David Maurer-Hollaender. But, "events were catastrophic enough to give anyone pause," and it would have been a mistake to take the deal for granted.

"Deutsche didn't have to close," Alexander said. "They could have walked away from their $40 million deposit - not that big a piece of change for a bank their size."

Yet neither the city nor publicity-shy Deutsche has made much noise over the deal. By comparison, American Express' decision to return to the World Financial Center was trumpeted far and wide.

The 60 Wall sale price included everything in the tower, such as Morgan's electronic infrastructure and furniture. Deutsche will enjoy a sales tax exemption on the equipment under terms with the city's Industrial Development Agency.



The view on 60 Wall Street (http://www.wirednewyork.com/60wall_street.htm) Building (J. P. Morgan Bank Headquarters), from Broad Street. To the right is the American International Building (http://www.wirednewyork.com/skyscrapers/aib/default.htm).

http://www.wirednewyork.com/images/jp_morgan_broad.jpg

[Edward]

From New York Post (http://www.nypost.com)

January 1, 2002

Ta da: According to city records, the final price paid by Deutsche Bank to J.P. Morgan Chase for 60 Wall Street's 1.64 million square feet of bricks, mortar and land is: $609.887 million or just over $372 a foot.

The check for approximately $650 million covered an all-in price for furniture, fixtures, and phones.

[CityGod5]

That's one of my favorite post-modernism towers. *Excellent pic.

[redbrick]

60 Wall St looks really good in that picture.

[Edward]

NEW YORK TIMES
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/06/nyregion/06DEVE.html

December 6, 2002
Deutsche Bank Is Moving to Lower Manhattan Tower
By CHARLES V. BAGLI


Deutsche Bank announced to great fanfare yesterday that it would move its national headquarters and 5,500 employees to the beleaguered streets of Lower Manhattan.

At a news conference on Wall Street with bank officials, Gov. George E. Pataki and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg hailed Deutsche Bank's commitment to the city and granted the German financial company $34.5 million in cash from the World Trade Center job retention program financed by federal aid.

"Deutsche Bank joins a host of other corporations whose commitments to Lower Manhattan are critical as we continue to work together in the public and private sectors to rebuild our city," Mr. Pataki said.

Despite the fanfare, Deutsche Bank committed to moving to Lower Manhattan in April 2001, when it struck an agreement to buy the downtown tower at 60 Wall Street for about $600 million as part of a plan to move its New York headquarters from Midtown. The 47-story skyscraper, which was owned by J. P. Morgan Chase, is considered in real estate circles to be the best office tower in Lower Manhattan because it was built recently, in the 1980's, as Morgan's headquarters building, with fully equipped trading floors.

After the attack on the World Trade Center and as recently as a few months ago, the bank had quietly offered to sell or lease the tower to other companies, according to two real estate executives.

Rohini Pragasam, a spokeswoman for Deutsche Bank, denied that the tower had been put on the market "this year."

But one of the real estate executives said the bank had little choice but to occupy the tower, after spending $600 million to buy it.

"The decision to stay was the result of the failure of the other options" to sell or lease the tower to someone else, the executive said.

Whatever the case, Charles A. Gargano, chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation, said that the bank had made a 10-year commitment to keep at least 6,500 employees in New York City, including 5,500 in Lower Manhattan. Mr. Gargano's agency has been negotiating with Deutsche Bank over the move since last summer.

"This bodes well for Lower Manhattan," Mr. Gargano said. "We need these long-term commitments."

Deutsche Bank got the $34.5 million grant from a program designed to retain jobs and attract new companies downtown. After the attack on the trade center, companies like Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley abandoned the area, moving more than 10,000 jobs to Midtown and New Jersey.

Over the last year, the city and state have granted a total of $210 million to 62 companies, schools and law firms with more than 200 employees that have stayed in Lower Manhattan. But critics have questioned the wisdom of handing out the money to companies that many people say were never in danger of leaving. American Express, for instance, got $25 million after it moved back into office space it owned at the World Financial Center.

"If people are really thinking about moving, they won't take the grants," said Benjamin F. Needell, a lawyer for Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in an interview earlier this year. "It's not enough money."

In any event, Deutsche Bank said it will move its headquarters to 60 Wall Street, where it currently has about 1,000 employees in the 1.6 million square foot tower. The bank's offices at 4 World Trade Center were destroyed during the attack.

Ms. Pragasam said that Deutsche Bank had not determined the fate of a second downtown building it owns, at 130 Liberty Street, which was severely damaged in the attack on the trade center. But several people who have talked to the bank said it would not return to the 41-story tower, which it believes will have to be demolished. The bank has filed a $600 million claim with its insurance company, which has offered a much lower sum.

[Eugenius]

Anyone know what will happen to DB's current headquarters at W52nd st. between 5th and 6th? *It would be ironic if JPMorgan Chase moved there.

[Agglomeration]

The Deutsche Bank's moving into 60 Wall Street is summarized in this boardroom meeting:

Deutsche Bank CEO: Does anybody have any objections to moving into 60 Wall Street? I wanna hear them now.

First Executive: Hey, we spent so much money on a big building for Lower Manhattan so why are we looking for other areas?

Second Executive: Aren't we supposed to continue with our promise to help rebuild Lower Manhattan after all these tax breaks?

First Executive: Well after all those tax breaks Bloomberg offered the others to stay in that building, they didn't accept it, Other than us.

Third Executive: Well, no one except us came to see 60 Wall Street. JP Morgan Chase moved out a few months ago. That leaves us with plenty of room in that building, doesn't it?

Second Executive: Well there ain't no room in that 130 Liberty Street joint. The ripped up steel facade and sick mold on the walls has turned the place into a hellhole.

Finally the Deutsche Bank CEO says to the group: Ahh, screw it, we bought the big tower for $600 million bucks, we might as well move in all our computers, paper, and fax machines, bank notes, sexy long-legged secretaries, and make ourselves comfy. And so I propose that we move into 60 Wall Street. Who's with me?

Everyone raises their hands to say yes.