(Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Bank AG says it will overhaul its U.S. headquarters at 60 Wall St. in lower Manhattan, with plans to knock out walls and open up space on the skyscraper's middle floors.
The renovations will create “a more open and transparent environment for staff” of the company, Germany's biggest bank and one of New York's largest securities firms, according to a memo to employees. The plan, designed by the Gensler architecture firm, calls for new desks and spaces designed for collaboration and socialization, and improved access to stairwells to allow people to move between floors more easily.
Deutsche Bank is aiming for “a more dynamic atmosphere,” Stuart Clarke, the bank's chief operating officer for the Americas, and Alan Scott, a corporate-services director, said in the memo. “The improvements will provide our teams access to work space better designed and adapted to modern business requirements.”
The bank, which has the entire 1.66 million square feet (154,000 square meters) of offices at 60 Wall St., has been examining what to do with the space ahead of a 2022 lease expiration. In 2014, it told New York office landlords it was in the market for at least 1 million square feet, enough to at least anchor a new skyscraper, two people with knowledge of the matter said early last year. The bank was also considering renovating its offices at 60 Wall St.
Amanda Williams, a Deutsche Bank spokeswoman, confirmed the contents of the memo. She declined to comment on whether the plans end the bank's search for new offices.
Tower Sale
Deutsche Bank bought the 47-story tower -- which had been built for JPMorgan & Co. before it merged with Chase Manhattan Bank -- in 2001, then sold it in 2007 to Paramount Group Inc. and leased it back.
A Paramount spokesman, Daniel Lauer, declined to comment on Deutsche Bank's plans.
By removing walls and opening up floor space, Deutsche Bank will be emulating a style favored by technology tenants. Such companies, including Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google, have dominated Manhattan office leasing in the years since the financial crisis, while banks and securities firms scaled back.
Deutsche Bank also plans to combine work spaces for its asset-management and wealth-management staffs at the company's 345 Park Ave. offices, according to the memo.
--With assistance from Laura J. Keller To contact the reporter on this story: David M. Levitt in New York at dlevitt@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Taub at dtaub@bloomberg.net, Christine Maurus
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