The white shoe law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf is in negotiations to sublease the entire 10th floor of 1301 Avenue of the Americas sources say. The space, roughly 62,000 square feet in size, is being offered by the German bank Commerzbank.
Dewey & LeBoeuf is the product of a 2007 merger between Dewey Ballantine and LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae and the sublease is being done to consolidate the operations of the two firms in one location.
Dewey has long been based out of 1301 Avenue of the Americas and will use the 10th floor as additional room in which to relocate LeBoeuf, which occupies space in the Boston Properties owned tower 125 West 55th Street.
An observer with knowledge of the deal said that LeBoeuf still has term left on its lease at 125 West 55th Street but was able to arrange an exit because another tenant, Katz Communications, which has several floors in the building, is willing to take the space for its own expansion.
The space is part of a collection of floors at 1301 Avenue of the Americas that had been occupied by the investment-banking firm Dresdner Kleinwort, a subsidiary of Dresdner Bank. In 2008, Dresdner was acquired by Commerzbank, the second largest German bank behind Deutsche Bank, which decided to essentially shutter Dresdner Kleinwort’s operations according to written reports.
A team from the real estate services firm CB Richard Ellis led by one of the company’s executives Bruce Surry, is handling the disposition of Dresdner’s space at 1301 for Commerzbank. Surry didn’t return calls seeking comment. 1301 Avenue of the Americas is owned by the Paramount Group, the real estate investment arm for