Law Firm Signs 320,000-SF Lease

BOSTON-In one of the largest relocations deals for a local law firm, Bingham McCutchen LLP will get its first new headquarters in nearly two decades. The firm inked a deal for nearly 320,000 sf of office space at One Federal St. The move is expected in June 2008.

The firm signed a 15-year lease on 13 floors of the 39-story building. It will become the building’s anchor tenant when it relocates from 240,000 sf at 150 Federal St. into space that will be vacated by Fidelity Investments in 2007. The relocation will give Bingham McCutchen an additional 80,000 sf of expansion space.

“The primary motivator for the move was the amount of space we needed,” Toni Belding, national director of facilities and operations for Bingham McCutchen, tells GlobeSt.com. “It’s not easy to find that much space and space that is fiscally effective. When we started looking, we realized our field was limited.”

Belding says expansion space was available at its current location but a disruptive renovation 10 years ago convinced the company that it would make more sense to move to a new location that could be built out prior to occupancy. Built in 1975, One Federal St., which originally served as headquarters to Shawmut Bank, will undergo renovations as part of the deal. Among those renovations will be special elevators to take clients directly to the firm’s offices.

The deal was handled for the tenant by Cushman and Wakefield. The building is managed by ING Clarion. Meredith & Grew was the broker for the ownership.