At a meeting of the Westchester County Board of Realtors Commercial Investment Division, Cushman & Wakefield of Connecticut senior directors Glenn Walsh and Christopher O'Callaghan stated that IBM had put more than 400,000 sf of space on the market for lease at its 1133 Westchester Ave. property in White Plains. Brokerage sources confirmed that the space is now on the market and that Cushman is the leasing agent for the space. Executives at Cushman & Wakefield and IBM could not be reached for comment concerning the assignment.

The building, which totals in excess of 600,000 sf, is owned by Armonk-based IBM. Back in late 2004 Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. signed a 10-yer lease for approximately 70,000 sf of space at the property, located next to Starwood's headquarters at 1111 Westchester Ave. In that transaction, Cushman & Wakefield brokers Maureen O'Boyle and Gerry Lees represented IBM. Both Cushman brokers are said to be working on the new IBM assignment for the remaining space at the 1133 Westchester Ave. building.

Walsh and O'Callaghan were part of a year-end broker's roundtable program presented by the Westchester County Board of Realtors Commercial Investment Division. Also part of the program were Barry Endelson, executive vice president, Aries Deitch & Endelson Inc. of Hartsdale and Ken Harbour of Harbour Commercial Real Estate in Armonk. All were quite bullish on the commercial office and retail markets in Westchester County.

However, the office brokers on the panel believed that the Eastern market's office availability rate will rise due to the IBM space being put on the market. Most believed that the office market will remain status quo in 2006 with internal expansions fueling activity rather than any large corporate relocations out of New York City.

"2006 is going to be a bit of musical chairs," Walsh said, He did note that due to strong demand, the office availability rate in Downtown White Plains will hit single digits in either the first or second quarter of 2006. All brokers at the event stated that Reckson's recent purchase of the EastRidge Properties portfolio was good for the market because they expect the REIT will invest significant capital in upgrading the properties.