Bank of America Expands at Namesake Tower in Midtown

Bank of America found the perfect tenant to fill hundreds of thousands of square feet at One Bryant Park: itself.

The financial institution is tacking on roughly 600,000 square feet to its existing footprint at the Midtown Manhattan property, otherwise known as the Bank of America Tower, Bloomberg reported. The property is owned in a joint venture between Bank of America and the Durst Organization.

Under the latest lease, the bank will occupy 2.4 million square feet at One Bryant Park, up from 1.8 million square feet before, according to CoStar. The 20-year lease gives Bank of America the entire office footprint of the building, as well as a portion of the retail space, which counts Verizon and Starbucks as other tenants.

It doesn’t plan on kicking out existing tenants operating underneath its expanded space, instead subleasing the office space back to the tenants if they choose.

“One Bryant Park is a critical hub and cornerstone for our global business,” Bank of America New York City President José Tavarez said in a statement.

The expansion takes the form of a triple-net lease, putting the onus on the tenant for property taxes, insurance and maintenance costs. The impact of that structure may be lessened, however, by the fact that Bank of America is an owner of the property.

Durst left its office space at the property several years ago, choosing to relocate to 110,000 square feet at 1155 Sixth Avenue. The company quickly began marketing the open spaces at the tower, where rents went as high as $200 per square foot at the time.

In 2019, Bank of America spearheaded a $1.6 billion refinancing of the property, combining a $950 million commercial mortgage-backed securities loan and $650 million of prior public-assisted financing from 2009. The building had recently been appraised at a value of $3.5 billion at the time of the refinancing.

Bank of America also leases space nearby at Two Bryant Park and the Grace Building. In that respect, the bank appears to be following in the footsteps of other financial institutions in Midtown Manhattan that are crafting campuses for themselves, such as JPMorgan Chase and Citadel.

— Holden Walter-Warner