Transamerica successor to stay in Purchase

A successor to the old Transamerica Leasing Inc. will consolidate its Purchase offices this summer into less than half its current 70,000 square feet.

TAL International Container Corp. has leased 30,014 square feet at 100 Manhattanville Road. The number of employees and how the comany would change because of the consolidation were immediately unknown. A TAL International representative was unavailable at deadline.

TAL's now lease represents less than a quarter of the space once occupied by predecessor Transamerica Leasing at 100 Manhattanville. That lease, signed in 1993, was hailed as a major economic development victory for Westchester in its border war against Connecticut.

After parent company Transamerica Corp. was acquired by the Dutch insurance giant Aegon N.V. in 1999, the new owner said it would sell off "noncore" businesses outside of life insurance, pensions, savings and investment products.

Transamerica's old maritime container division was the only unit left in Purchase when Aegon sold it in November for $1.2 billion to TAL International Group Inc.

William Korchak, senior vice president with 100 Manhattanville leasing agent Jones Lang LaSalle, said it will market for lease the 100,000 square feet of former Transamerica space that TAL will not occupy.

"We will be asking $29 per square foot," Korchak said.

To make that space more attractive to prospective tenants, he said the building's owner has begun a $1 million renovation of the building's lobby and elevator cabs. Work should finish before May.

"As the space leases up, we will complete new common corridors. We are also considering the installation of a fitness center," Korchak said.

100 Manhattanville is a 280,000-square-foot building owned by the real estate investment fund SEB Immobilien-Investment GmbH of Germany.

Copyright Westfair Communications Mar 28, 2005
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved