G&W buys IBM campus in Westchester

Real Estate Weekly, March 17, 1999

In a real estate market still strongly influenced by corporate consolidations and expansions, Gale & Wentworth, LLC recently acquired a 380,000 square-foot Mount Pleasant, NY, office building owned and occupied by IBM. Being marketed for single or multiple tenant use, the building represents one of the only prominent world class corporate headquarters available in the tri-state area.

MSGW Real Estate Fund II, a partnership of Gale & Wentworth and Morgan Stanley, paid $35 million for the prominent, 76-acre property, which can accommodate an additional 220,000 square feet of space. The building, currently used as a divisional headquarters, has been leased back to IBM through the end of May, after which it will be available in its entirety.

The acquisition is the second property the company has purchased from IBM within the last 12 months and marks Gale & Wentworth's entree into the Westchester County marketplace.

"We're very comfortable with the overall supply and demand dynamics in this new market," said Bob Martie, senior vice president of Gale & Wentworth's marketing and leasing group. 'We are also confident tenants will respond to the tremendous first-time opportunity to lease space at this highly desirable site."

Situated at the intersection of Routes 9 and 117, just north of Tarrytown, the campus is adjacent to Rockwood Hall, a well-known Rockefeller family landmark along the Hudson River. The picturesque, wooded site also includes two very appealing amenities: a helipad and tennis courts.

Designed by noted architect Edward Larabee Barnes in post modernist style, the three-story aluminum and glass building has won numerous design awards and recognitions. Among its more practical attributes are an efficient open-floor layout, a spacious cafeteria, and a state-of-the-art teleconferencing center built by IBM only a year ago. Gale & Wentworth plans extensive renovations to enhance and accommodate the needs of today's technologically conscious tenants.

"The size, prestige and privacy of this site make it an ideal corporate headquarters environment, especially for a company with expansion in its future," said Martie. "It's really a great chance to move to an incredible location."

Gale & Wentworth, LLC, headquartered in Florham Park, NJ, purchased a 200-acre, corporate campus from IBM last year, which was sold to Merck-Medco Managed Care, LLC after the pharmaceutical company decided to buy rather than lease the property.

One of the nation's leading private real estate investment and services organizations, Gale & Wentworth's 24 million square-foot portfolio also includes properties in California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Washington, D.C., and the United Kingdom.