Bankers find room for growth with 51,000 s/f midtown lease.

Cushman & Wakefield today Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc., a 41-year-old New York-based investment banking and brokerage firm specializing in the financial services sector, has expanded its headquarters in midtown Manhattan with a new 51,000 s/f lease at 787 Seventh Avenue.

The company, rated the "best of the boutiques" by Institutional Investor magazine, previously occupied about 68,000 s/f in the building, which it leased after relocating from downtown Manhattan following the destruction of its offices at 2 World Trade Center in 2001.

Keefe Bruyette & Woods, which previously occupied the fourth floor and part of the sixth floor at 787 Seventh, signed a 13-year lease for the entire fifth floor in the building, a term consistent with its existing leases.

Cushman & Wakefield brokerage professionals James R Quinn, Pamela J. Walsh and Kimberley Ellery represented Keefe Bruyette & Woods in negotiations with the landlord, Equitable Life Assurance Society.

"This is a company that has forged a massive resurgence," said Mr. Quinn, a Cushman & Wakefield executive director. "Following extreme circumstances, its business has strengthened and grown, and I'm personally pleased we were able to negotiate for a contiguous floor in a building that the firm's top executives wanted to remain in for the long-term."

The CB Richard Ellis team of Robert Alexander, Melissa Bazar, Howard Fiddle and Joan Meixner, arranged the long-term lease expansion on behalf of the building owner, Equitable Life Assurance Society and investment manager, Lend Lease Real Estate Investments.

In order to make the space available for KBW, CBRE had to negotiate a simultaneous lease termination with Combined Specialty Group, which was committed to the entire fifth floor for a term of nearly five years.

As the exclusive leasing agent for the property, CBRE is also currently marketing 162,027 s/f of space on the 11th through 15th floors, 31,566 s/f on the 34th, as well as 23,629 s/f of space featuring 40' arched windows on the 50th floor.

Designed by Edward Larabee Barnes Architects and completed in 1985, 787 Seventh Avenue is a Class A office tower owned by Equitable.

Located on Seventh Avenue between 51st and 52nd Streets, 787 Seventh Avenue was built in 1985 for Equitable Life Assurance Society. In addition to Keefe Bruyette & Woods, major tenants in the 54-story class-A tower include law firms Sidley Austin Brown & Wood, and Willkie Farr & Gallagher, as well as BNP Paribas.

Since the attacks on the World Trade Center, Keefe Bruyette & Woods has expanded its New York City operations, opened offices in Chicago, Atlanta and Hoboken and launched a London-based subsidiary.