Societe Generale, France’s second- largest bank, signed an agreement to move its US headquarters to 245 Park Ave. in New York’s biggest office leasing this year.
Societe Generale sent a memorandum today to its New York employees announcing the decision, said Jim Galvin, a spokesman for the Paris-based company. The move will occur in 2013, when the bank’s lease at 1221 Avenue of the Americas expires. The company plans to take the third through 12th floors, about 442,000 square feet (41,000 square meters), and 110,400 square feet on floors 13, 14 and 15 for potential expansion, Galvin said in an e-mail. The tower, majority owned by New York- based Brookfield Office Properties Corp., is 44 stories and 1.8 million square feet. It’s located between 46th and 47th streets, two blocks north of Grand Central Terminal.
The deal would be the biggest New York office lease by square foot this year, according to CoStar Group Inc., a Bethesda, Maryland-based real estate data service. The largest through the first three quarters was the law firm Proskauer Rose LLP’s 406,399-square-foot deal at 11 Times Square, a new building on Eighth Avenue and West 42nd Street. Societe Generale will sublease the space from the current tenant, JPMorgan Chase & Co, for 10 years, Galvin said. It will then lease directly from Brookfield for another decade. He didn’t disclose the financial terms.