NEW YORK CITY-British Airways is taking off from Queens…again. The company has leased 46,198 square feet of space at 2 Park Ave.--an art deco, Ely Jacques Kahn building in Manhattan--and will relocate to the spot in a matter of days. Cushman & Wakefield represented the building’s owner, PPF OFF Two Park Avenue Owner LLC, while CB Richard Ellis represented British Airways in the deal.

The lease is for a 10-year term and a CBRE spokesman tells GlobeSt.com that British Airways, which will occupy the entirety of the 11th floor along with other members of its alliance, will use it for reservations call center operations. Tara Stacom, David E. Green, Mitchell Arkin and Whitten Morris at C&W were the owner’s reps and Joan Meixner and Brad Needleman at CBRE were the tenant’s reps. Sources say that asking rent was $48 per square foot, while the actual rent came in just below that figure.

Two Park sits a few blocks east of Penn Station and just south of Grand Central Terminal, a factor that made it an attractive location for the airline. “Among the factors which drew British Airways to 2 Park were the building’s transit-oriented location, large efficient floor plates and beautifully restored Art-deco lobby,” Stacom, a C&W vice chairman, says in a company release.

John Lampl, a spokesman for British Airways, tells GlobeSt.com that the move was essentially the result of downsizing that had taken place over the years, in addition to the relocation of some call center employees to Jacksonville, FL in 2000. “When we move into Park Avenue we’re going to be at about 90 employees," Lampl says. "Some of the work has gone to JFK and a lot of it has gone back to London--and a lot of it has to do with technology and you don’t need as many people anymore.”

Lampl explains that Oneworld, an airline alliance based in Vancouver of which British Airways is a member, will move to 2 Park Ave. sometime in June. The building is 29 stories and one million square feet, with over 100,000 square feet currently available. Other current tenants include the United Way of New York, the Hartford Financial Services Group and the Tribune Co.

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