Major tenant to stay on LI, state, county give incentives.

In a move that will keep 712 jobs and a major corporate user in Nassau County, First Card Services, Inc., has signed a 10-year lease renewal for 108,000 square feet of space with expansion options in the Nassau West Corporate Center 1, located at 60 Charles Lindbergh Boulevard in Mitchel Field, Long Island.

In successfully renegotiating the lease, Reckson Associates, owner of Nassau West, in cooperation with Nassau County, was able to keep First Card from moving to Elgin, Illinois, where they had been offered a site to relocate.

First Card Services, Inc., a division of First National Bank of Chicago is a 712-employee financial services firm. Their 10 year lease calls for an aggregate rental of over $30 million, with expansion options, as the company creates additional jobs over that term.

The negotiation of the lease took nine months to complete, involving negotiations by the Nassau County Department of Commerce and Industry Commissioner, Steve Latham and the New York State Department of Economic Development. Reckson Associates was represented by Kathleen Giamo, director of Sales and Marketing, and First Card by Herb Agin and Robert Guido of Sutton & Edwards Commercial Realty.

The incentive package provided by the New York State Department of Economic Development was a grant for $86,000, to train 130 new employees. Nassau County provided additional parking facilities, in an existing lot adjacent to the property, which they will lease to First Card Services.

The Nassau West Corporate Center 1 is a 200,000-square-foot building, constructed by Reckson in 1981. Its other tenants include Equicor, Prudential and Healthplex insurance companies.