American Express has subleased the entire 22nd floor of One Liberty Plaza, a 44,000 s/f space.
According to brokers who weren’t involved in the transaction but had information on the deal, the company will sublease the space from the insurance company Gen Re until May 2014 for $32 per s/f and four months of free rent.
People familiar with Amex said that the company, the biggest issuer of credit cards in the U.S., will use the floor to relocate portions of the over 1 million s/f of operations it has at the nearby office tower Three World Financial Center, where it has its world headquarters. A person said that One Liberty Plaza would serve as a home for offices that needed to be temporarily moved from Three World Financial Center in order to let the company reorganize its space there.
The restacking, as the process is called, is being done so that Amex can align offices within the company and shuffle personnel to make its operations more efficient. Large tenants often have to rearrange their layouts periodically because growth can cause their operations to become sprawling rather than connected in a way that promotes optimal management and interaction.
These sources also said that the floor at One Liberty would be used as an incubator for new businesses that Amex is planning to develop or launch.
For more on this story, read Real Estate Weekly’s print edition, to be published tomorrow.
