At a time when financial firms are stressed and vacancy levels are rising, the city has let 1,600 office jobs skip across the Hudson River.
New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine gleefully made the official announcement yesterday that the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation, the major clearing house for banks, will move most of its back office functions from 55 Water St. to the LeFrak-owned Newport Office Center in Jersey City.
The city’s Economic Development Corp. declined to match New Jersey’s $74.6 million in incentives over 10 years and another $11.8 million in Tax Incremental Financing for the LeFrak ownership.
The company will keep its headquarters and about 700 jobs in New York. It currently leases nearly 900,000 feet at 55 Water; its new space is 415,000 feet.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Charles Borrok, who represented the firm in its search and negotiations, declined to comment.
The Jersey City space is being subleased from JP Morgan Chase through 2023, for a price in the low $20s a foot.
According to Cushman & Wakefield, downtown space is now going for an average of $42 a foot.
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NYU Medical Center signed a lease yesterday for 35,000 feet at 14 Wall St., effectively doubling its current space.
Daniel Ghadamian, a principal of building owner Capstone Equities, said NYU is taking the entire 9th floor. It has been leasing the 10th floor for the last year.
“This brings the [building’s] occupancy to 96 percent,” said Ghadamian, who noted they have leased 600,000 feet since April of 2007, when the company and Carlyle Group bought the former Bank of New York building for $300 million.
NYU was represented by Mark Mandell of Cushman & Wakefield; 14 Wall St. had a CB Richard Ellis group consisting of Brad Gerla, Howard Fiddle, Jonathan Cope, Michael Higgins and Evan Haskell. Asking rent was in the high $30s a foot.
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Disney is moving from Fifth Avenue to Times Square.
The entertainment company plans to give up its sprawling store at 711 Fifth Ave. when the lease ends in January.
Disney spokesman Gary Foster told The Post it is negotiating at two sites in Times Square and is close to a deal. It has been in discussions with Vornado Realty Trust for a 14,000-foot space at 1540 Broadway that includes some of the former Virgin Records.
Foster said Disney has also been negotiating on 1604 Broadway, which has 22,000 square feet with high ceilings and outdoor patios. It was the Spotlight Live nightclub until the city closed it down after a death, and owner Jeff Sutton is eager to rent.
Area brokers say the Spotlight space would be half the price of Vornado’s space and would be right across from M&M’s World, which is doing a gangbusters family business, Disney’s sweet spot.
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Abe Hidary of Hidrock Realty has paid $40 million to Société Générale for its non-performing $95 million mortgage at 960 Sixth Ave.
“We own five other office assets within two blocks and are confident if we had to run it, we could operate it and lease it,” said Hidary, who obtained a $7 million mortgage from Signature Bank for the purchase.
The Statuto Group, a major Italian real estate firm, bought the former Atlantic Bank Building from Community Bank of New York for $105 million in 2007. They were counting on $60 office rents, but after the bank moved out were left with two small office tenants in a $40 market.
“They are in default and not paying,” Hidary said of the Italian investors, declining to say if he would file foreclosure documents.
