Tishman Speyer Lands Wells Fargo in a Big Way in Beantown

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

125 High St., Boston

Lightning does strike twice. Tishman Speyer has signed Wells Fargo to a 150,000-square-foot lease at the High Street Tower, a building within its office complex at 125 High St. in Boston, marking the real estate company’s second 100,000-plus-square-foot deal at the tower in just over one month.

Tishman was represented internally in the transaction, relying on Sam Schaefer and Brooks Brown, while William Anderson and William Motley of commercial real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield acted on behalf of Wells Fargo, which will consolidate more than 700 employees at its new home.

The financial services company will set up shop on five floors of the 30-story, 927,000-square-foot High Street Tower, part of the block-long, 1.5 million-square-foot 125 High St. complex in Boston’s Financial District. In addition to the High Street Tower, the sprawling 2.5-acre property encompasses the Oliver Street Tower and the building at 131 Oliver St. All three structures are linked by a glass atrium.

Wells Fargo will call the campus home under a 14-year lease agreement that commences in January 2017. And the financial services company won’t be lonely. The High Street Tower is now 84 percent leased, a spokesperson with Tishman told Commercial Property Executive, courtesy of Wells Fargo and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. In June, Houghton Mifflin signed on for 162,000 square feet of space at the High Street Tower in what constituted the largest office lease transaction in Boston year to date.

It’s not just the 125 High St. office destination that’s raking in the lease agreements in Boston. The Financial District was at the forefront of overall net absorption activity in the metro area during the first half of the year, soaking up approximately 237,400 square feet, according to a C&W report. With the Wells Fargo deal, a repeat performance may be in the making for the second half of 2015.