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GE unit will fill former Xerox HQ
(Stamford Advocate, The (Stamford, CT) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Jan. 5--STAMFORD -- GE Energy Financial Services plans to move into the 275,000-square-foot former Xerox Corp. headquarters at 800 Long Ridge Road in Stamford about a year from now, the building's owner said yesterday.
Norwalk-based Building & Land Technology said GE Energy Financial Services will begin its 15-year lease in January 2009, when renovations are scheduled to be completed.
GE Energy Financial Services, the growing energy investment arm of Fairfield-based General Electric Co., will remain at 120 Long Ridge Road in Stamford for another year, Building & Land said.
The landlord and developer also owns the 300,000-square-foot office complex on 60 acres at 120 Long Ridge Road that formerly housed GE Commercial Finance, the parent unit of Energy Financial Services.
"GE Energy Financial Services is delighted to make the move to accommodate our rapid business growth, with our 290 employees in Stamford," Alex Urquhart, president and chief executive officer of GE Energy Financial Services, said in a statement.
Officials would not comment beyond the release.
With $16 billion in assets, GE Energy Financial Services invests more than $5 billion annually in energy and water.
In October, Xerox relocated its headquarters and 330 employees from Stamford to a Building & Land-owned office structure at 45 Glover Ave. in Norwalk.
Xerox, the world's largest copier company, had been in Stamford for 38 years.
The company moved to Norwalk because it no longer needed a building of the size it had in Stamford, where it used to employ about 600 people.
An affiliate company of Building & Land Technology bought the Xerox property a year ago for $54.8 million.
Michael Freimuth, economic development director for the city of Stamford, said he talked to Building & Land President Carl Kuehner in November about GE Energy Financial Services leasing the former Xerox building.
"It is a very nice deal for Carl Kuehner and shows his savvy in the purchase of the Xerox campus," Freimuth said. "Maintaining a GE presence is important for the city. It is a flagship tenant. The leasing is an indication of the viability and the strength of the Stamford office market."
Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy said he is pleased GE Energy Financial Services will remain in Stamford.
"The Kuehners have a reputation for excellence and it's gratifying to see their focus and continued significant capital investment here in our city," Malloy said.
Building & Land also owns two vacant office buildings at 260 and 292 Long Ridge Road, which units of GE Capital also formerly occupied.
The two contiguous properties contain a total of 250,000 square feet of office space, the company said.
Building & Land Technology plans to renovate 120 Long Ridge Road for a new tenant after GE Energy Financial Services vacates the property, Kuehner said.
He said his company has not found a tenant for 120 Long Ridge.
The acquisitions of the Long Ridge Road buildings and the GE Energy Financial Services lease, which Building & Land said was the largest office lease in Fairfield County last year, dovetail with Building & Land's strategy of "purchasing and repositioning value-added properties in high-profile areas of Fairfield County that offer ease of access and a full range of amenities," Kuehner said.
Building & Land avoided the high cost of new construction, especially concrete and steel, by purchasing the Xerox building, said Jim Fagan, senior managing director of the Fairfield County and Westchester County, N.Y., operations of New York City-based Cushman & Wakefield Inc. commercial real estate.
Building & Land Technology owns or manages more than 2.1 million square feet of office space, including 901 Main Ave. in Norwalk, where IMS Health, GE Real Estate, GE Commercial Finance and Carlson Marketing are tenants.
The North American headquarters of the Diageo PLC liquor company is at 801 Main Ave., another Building & Land office building.
To see more of The Stamford Advocate, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.stamfordadvocate.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, The Stamford Advocate, Conn.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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