UBS on the Hunt

UBS is on the hunt for as much as 800,000 sq ft of office space in the NY area as leases expire.

Other NY metro space, not the Washington Blvd HQ adjacent to the Stamford Train Station, seem to be up for abandonment. A spokesman for the bank is quoted in the Advocate:

"We have a number of leases that come up in 2013, so we have started to look at various options including new buildings, existing building, etc. A decision probably won't be reached for several months. It's safe to say that our lease at 677 Washington Boulevard runs through 2017 with renewal options. Our intention is to maximize the use of this site."

There aren’t a lot of high capacity vacancies in Stamford that could absorb that space in any significant, central way. The Financial Center Building, available as Gen Re moves north, is the only one that comes to mind.

As for new construction, I wonder if this means some of the expansion phases for the Stamford HQ are back in consideration. Here is a rendering of towers that could replace some of the parking lot space surrounding the current build out.



Could UBS also be Malloy’s mystery tenant for the Gateway development? That would be odd, but the then Mayor made that announcement seem imminent and there is only a small list of companies that have popped up shopping space that large locally as of late. Excavation seems to have picked up on site there as of late as well...