This quarter, approximately 800,000 sf, about two-thirds, of the 1.2-million-sf trophy office tower will be vacated. Ace Ltd. is relocating its headquarters to a building it acquired at 436 Walnut St., and, in a renewal that runs through 2016, Cigna downsized, stripping about 200,000 sf from its current occupancy.
Furthermore, since buying the building, ACP obtained zoning approval to convert as much as the top 25 floors to residential condo units. GlobeSt.com has learned that the owner has had discussions with more than one architectural firm regarding potential conversion. Michael Gribbon, ACP managing executive director, located in the company's Washington, DC office, declined to comment on ACP's plans.
CBRE SVPs Joseph Wolff and George Cauffman and VP Mitch Marcus head the firm's local office leasing team. Mary Jo Eaton, managing director of asset services, assigned day-to-day on-site management of the tower to John Maguire, senior real estate manager. Calls to these CBRE representatives were forwarded to Robert Walters, senior managing director of the mid-Atlantic region, which is based here. While Roberts did return GlobeSt.com's call, he also declined to discuss any aspect of the building or CBRE's office marketing plans, including the asking rental rates.
According to a fourth-quarter 2005 report from the local office of Studley, the asking rental rate for class A office space in the West submarket is $24.91 per sf. At the end of 2005, the class A vacancy was 16.6%, according to Studley data, which would not include the space about to become available at Two Liberty.
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