Bank of China plans new 18,000 s/f building

Real Estate Weekly, Nov 26, 2003

The Bank of China New York Branch (BOCNY) has just closed a unique lease transaction for an 18,000 s/f building to be developed at 19 E. 48th Street, adjacent to its USA headquarters building at 410 Madison Avenue in New York City.

The lease contains an agreement to construct a new purpose-built eight-story building on the site, following demolition of the existing building. When completed in 2005, 19 E. 48th Street will be the BOCNY's office and training facility.

CB Richard Ellis' Elizabeth Ann Wright arranged the transaction, acting exclusively on behalf of the BOCNY. The Elo Organization is the landlord and owner of the property. The BOCNY will lease the entire building. A/ R Envirnonetics has been retained as design architects for the interiors.

"This was a fascinating deal that involved agreeing tentatively to a rent figure. From there, we negotiated the terms and conditions of the lease, and the details of the construction of a build-to-suit facility that would address effectively all of the BOCNY's requirements.

Moreover, we assisted in building a team of consultants to support the BOCNY in this rather complex transaction." said Ms. Wright. "The BOCNY had no precedent for this transaction, but everyone was keen to make it happen, and we all worked diligently to ensure an effective result for the BOCNY and an efficient execution."

According to Kenneth Ge, Deputy General Manager of BOCNY, "We are very excited that we will soon have a new training facility next to our USA headquarters in Midtown. The building will be state-of-the-art in terms of infrastructure and technology. It will be a true annex, literally right next door, in which we shall offer instruction to our employees who will be learning banking procedures in the U.S."

Ken Crystal of Philips Lytle LLP, attorneys for the BOCNY, commented, "The transaction was anything but standard and it involved a wide variety of matters that are not normally addressed in a straightforward lease deal."