Bank takes 250,000 s/f at 3WFC.

The Royal Bank of Canada has completed one of the biggest downtown deals so far this year, a lease for 250,000 s/f at 3 World Financial Center. The bank will be relocating from 1 Liberty Plaza where it currently has five floors. Both buildings are owned by Brookfield Properties, who has benefited from the recent increase in leasing activity downtown.

As Real Estate Weekly reported in its April 26 issue, insurance firm The Willis Group is said to be currently considering as much as 200,000 s/f at One World Financial Center, which is also owned by Brookfield. Law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, One World Financial Center's largest tenant with 14 floors, is rumored to be making moves to expand by between 50,000-60,000 s/f.

The 2.2 million s/f One Liberty Plaza, which despite its size couldn't accommodate the Royal Bank of Canada's expansion needs, is on the verge of signing leases with two tenants for a floor apiece, deals that would total 80,000 s/f.

Insurance giant Aon Corporation meanwhile, which recently subleased 200,000 s/f of space it had at 55 East 52nd Street to advisory and investment firm, Evercore Partners and McKinsey & Co., signed a deal to greatly expand its offices at 199 Water Street. After the expansion, a source indicated the firm will have 400,000 s/f of space.

While not on the same scale as the downtown leases, deals continue to get done in midtown. The Capital Group Companies renewed its lease at Tishman Speyer's 45 Rockefeller Plaza and expanded by over 20,000 s/f in the 1.3 million s/f property. Capital Group, one of the largest mutual fund managers in the world, now has 85,000 s/f in the building.