Lillian Vernon will relocate from its current headquarters operations at One Theall Rd. in Rye, NY, where it currently occupies the entire 65,000-sf building, by the fall of this year. The firm's lease at 445 Hamilton Ave. entails the entire ninth and 10th floors of the 15-story building. Lillian Vernon's lease at 445 Hamilton Ave. also has options for an additional two floors at the building.

William V. Cuddy Jr., Hilarie S. Siles and Robert Caruso of CB Richard Ellis' Stamford, CT office represented Lillian Vernon in the lease deal. Glenn Walsh, senior director, and Larry Ruggieri, associate, of Cushman & Wakefield represented Metropolitan Life in the transaction.

Strauss Zelnick, chief executive officer of Lillian Vernon, says of its corporate headquarters relocation, "We are happy to maintain our 53-year commitment to Westchester County. It has been a welcome home to our business and staff. We look forward to being part of the exciting developments in Downtown White Plains."

Salvatore Carrera, executive director of the Westchester County Office of Economic Development, says that at one time the company was close to moving its operations across the border into Connecticut. However, he credited Lillian Vernon officials and CBRE's Cuddy with holding talks with the county prior to a final decision. He adds that the assistance Westchester County offered the firm helped convince the firm to remain in New York State.

Earlier this year the Westchester County Industrial Development Agency granted incentives to Lillian Vernon totaling approximately $250,000 in connection with its intent to keep its offices in Westchester County.

C&W's Walsh adds, "I think this deal is great for the City of White Plains. This company had a lot of suburban options to choose from and it is a big win for the City of White Plains that they chose it instead."

He adds that there is a tremendous amount of leasing activity taking place at 445 Hamilton Ave., which some years ago housed the headquarters of Prodigy Corp. "I have a couple of hundred thousand square feet in negotiation right now. It is a very active building," Walsh says. He notes that as much as 60,000 sf in deals could close in the next week to 10 days at the building.

Lillian Vernon, a subsidiary of Direct Holdings Worldwide LLC, will bring 130 employees to the 445 Hamilton Ave. building. The company plans to house its executive offices, merchandising, creative, online, finance, business-to-business, marketing, inventory control, quality assurance, human resources and public relations departments at the building.