Bank of Ireland Shifts Some Operations to Stamford

The lease is scheduled to run through 2017. The deal was announced by W&M Properties executive vice president Jeffrey H. Newman, who along with leasing associate Kimberly Zaccagnino represented the building owner. W&M Properties is the marketing and management agent for the 810,000-sf, three-building First Stamford Place complex. Cushman & Wakefield director Peter J. Sweetser and senior director Christopher B. O'Callaghan, both of whom were employed with Albert B. Ashforth Co. Inc. when negotiations for the leasing transaction commenced, represented the Bank of Ireland.

John Connors, US country manager wholesale financial services, says the deal was fueled by the firm's future expansion plans as well as by Stamford's location, which he says is a good spot for the bank's institutional lending operations. The new office should be operational in late June or early July, he says. The initial move will involve about 35 bank employees from Greenwich. "We have plans to grow both business units over the next several years."

O'Callaghan says the Bank of Ireland's Wholesale Financial Services Group currently occupies approximately 6,700 sf of space at 75 Holly Hill Lane. The Bank of Ireland Asset Management occupies approximately 13,000 sf of space at 75 Holly Hill Lane. That operation will remain at its Greenwich location, the Bank of Ireland's Connors confirms. "Bank of Ireland is establishing wholesale financial services and global markets branches for its expanding corporate banking and global markets relationships in the US, and, for this reason, wanted to relocate to Stamford where the concentration of large international financial institutions is growing," Sweetser adds.

W&M officials note that Mason Capital Management, Air Castle Advisor LLC, Morgan & Finnegan LLP, Artha Capital Management, Inc., Ziff Brothers Investment LLC, Altrinsic Global Advisors, LLC and Greenwich Prime Trading Group, LLC recently chose to sign leases at First Stamford Place rather than maintain all of their operations in Manhattan or Greenwich, where rental prices are higher.