"Merrill Lynch saved Barclays a lot of money by not having to vacate that space," says Cynthia Wasserberger, a director with Colliers ABR, the 32-story tower's leasing and managing agent. "They were very proactive about getting the building operational again." Wasserberger, Colliers vice chairman Peter Riguardi and executive managing director Robert Flippin represented Merrill Lynch in arranging the four-year renewal.

Barclays occupies 104,550 sf on three floors of the Downtown property as well as 4,200 of basement space. While details of the lease have not been released, asking rents in the building are in the low $40s.

"This is a major confidence builder for the downtown market," states Riguardi. "Although they had a number of options under consideration, in the end, Barclays chose to stay at 222 Broadway because of the high quality of services at the building, its confidence in the future of Lower Manhattan and its strong comfort level with Merrill Lynch.

Located "catty-corner from the World Trade Center site," 222 Broadway was able to reopen just five days after the bombings. Says Wasserberger, Merrill Lynch's round-the-clock efforts to complete a major cleanup operation demonstrates the building owner's "commitment to their tenants."

Colliers ABR has been focusing considerable attention on the downtown marketplace and is currently negotiating with prospective tenants on 450,000 sf of space at 2 World Financial. The firm leases and manages more than 20 million sf of space in the New York metro area.

Barclays employs more than 78,000 staff in over 60 countries. Its primary focuses are banking, investment banking and investment management. The firm has been involved in financial services for more than 300 years. Insignia/ESG represented Barclays in the lease renewal.