Four Sylvan Way was built for CitiCorp (now CitiGroup) back in the mid '80s, and the financial giant occupied it until recently. It was bought by Gale & Wentworth and partners PaineWebber and Morgan Stanley in 1997 as part of 57-building, six-state portfolio acquisition from Bellemead Development Corp. Since then, 4 Sylvan Way has been substantially rebuilt.
"We redeveloped the common area and atrium, and we refurbished and upgraded the exterior to make it more current," Robert R. Martie, SVP of Gale & Wentworth, exclusively tells GlobeSt.com. "When CitiGroup had it, they converted it to a raised-floor workplace to accommodate the large mainframes in use back in those days. The original plan for the building as a data center allowed for an enormous amount of power to be directed to it.
"VoiceStream took the space because it was well-located relative to its employee base, it was the appropriate size for their current needs and it has some built-in growth," Martie continues. "They also wanted to establish their own identity and security rather than just be one tenant in a multi-tenant building. It was important for them to find their own home."
Martie and Tim Conklin, vice president of marketing and leasing were the in-house reps for Gale & Wentworth in the lease transaction. VoiceStream was represented by Richard Rosenhaus of Rosenhaus Realty.
The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Martie, however, terms the structure of the lease "interesting. It was developed to accommodate the user and the owner. In corporate America today, the way a company's budget and financing works, real estate can have a negative impact on the financial statement of a tenant.
"It then becomes the responsibility of the landlord to develop a deal that lessens that impact on their balance sheets, while at the same time works to satisfy the landlord's objectives as well," Martie tells GlobeSt.com.
VoiceStream, of course, is perhaps best known for its advertising pitchperson, actress Jamie Lee Curtis. The Bellevue, WA-based company is now part of German-based Deutsche Telekom, which acquired its operations last June.
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