110,000 s/f expansion inked.

E*TRADE signed a 110,000 s/f expansion and renewal at Harborside Financial Center's Plaza 2 last week for rents in the $20s per s/f.

Founded in Palo Alto, California in the early 1990s as one of the first online discount stock brokerages, E*TRADE survived the dot-com meltdown and the years-long stock market lull that followed by taking on the depth of a full service financial firm. As the firm grew, complementing its securities trading business with banking and lending products, it was Palo Alto's shallow labor pool that began to become problematic for the firm's operations.

Because the area had a relatively scare supply of financial professionals as compared to major metropolitan centers, E*TRADE had been forced to invest in training much of its staff.

The firm seemed to be playing out the classic real estate folly where a company, either for lack of strategy, foresight or simply because of unforeseen growth, outstrips the resources of its location.

But then last year, E*TRADE acquired Harrisdirect, a rival securities brokerage, and with it inherited a portfolio of office space in and around Manhattan. Eager to tap the city's dense workforce, the firm soon relocated its headquarters from the West Coast to a roughly 60,000 s/f space at 135 West 57th Street, what was formerly Harrisdirect's headquarters.

E*TRADE also assumed control of 44,000 s/f Harrisdirect had on the 5th floor of Harborside Plaza 2, space it had been subleasing from Credit Suisse. As part of the current deal, Credit Suisse was able to terminate its tenancy although a few years remained on its lease to allow E*TRADE to negotiate a deal directly with the building's landlord,

Mack-Cali. E*TRADE also took 66,000 s/f on the 4th floor to accommodate the relocation of more of its California operations located in Menlo Park and Rancho Cordova.

Much of the firm's customer service operations will be located in the Harborside space, staff whose skills exceed the somewhat unsophisticated connotations attached to their job titles.

"Customer service isn't talking to people about their broken dishwasher, these are people who are highly trained in trading stocks and sometimes have to help people execute trades," said CB Richard Ellis broker Mark Ravesloot, who represented E*TRADE in the deal. "Everyone who works in those positions is a licensed stock broker and E*TRADE is now benefiting from being in the city where it can tap the kind of talented and skilled workers that it needs."