Bear Stearns takes space in Park Avenue towers.

Having been in the market these past few months for expansion space only to see large block after large block disappear as a result of the steady pace of mammoth leases, Bear Stearns split its space needs between two buildings in a deal totaling 250,000 s/f that it is set to complete this week.

The firm, which is one of the largest investment banking and securities trading companies in the city, took 150,000 s/f at 237 Park Avenue and 100,000 s/f at 320 Park Avenue, where it already occupies 97,000 s/f and has expansion rights.

Both buildings are in close proximity to the company's landmark 1.2 million s/f octagonal headquarters at 383 Madison Avenue, which was developed by Bear Stearns and completed in 2001. David Levinson, a former powerhouse broker at CB Richard Ellis, represented Bear Stearns in the transactions.

Levinson left CBRE last year to dedicate himself fulltime to L&L Acquisitions, the real estate investment firm he founded with Robert Lapidus and which owns a number of prominent buildings in the city, including 195 Broadway and Metropolitan Tower.

Bear Stearns was a high profile client he continued to represent however, which led some to speculate that L&L Acquisitions was going to purchase 522 Fifth Avenue when that building came on the market in recent months, and then lease a large chunk, if not all, of that property's space to Bear Stearns.

Levinson denied the rumors at the time and the building was eventually purchased for $420 million at the end of April by Broadway Partners, a relative newcomer to the Manhattan market.

522 Fifth Avenue's entire 600,000 s/f was then leased to Morgan Stanley at the end of June in what was one of the biggest leasing transactions of the year.

Bear Stearns is said to have also considered taking space at 1166 Avenue of the Americas when Marsh & McLennan, which owns floors 21-44 according to Mr.OfficeSpace.com, put a large block on the market. Lehman Brothers wound up absorbing that space almost as soon as it was put on the market.

A market source said that rents at 320 Park Avenue are in $80s per s/f while at 237 Park Avenue they are in the high $60s to low $70s per s/f.

Bear Stearns, because it had expansion rights at 320 Park Avenue, may have been able to secure the space at slightly lower rates.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The June 28 issue of REW featured an Insiders Outlook article on environmental insurance in residenital real estate. The article was written by John Butler, vice president Program Brokerage Corporation Environmental Practice.