New York Real Estate Journal

Helmsley Spear moves to 770 Lexington Ave.

February 6, 2009 - Brokerage
According to Kent Swig, president of Helmsley Spear, LLC, his firm has relocated and expanded its headquarters to the entire 9th floor at 770 Lexington Ave. This new location will support the company's commitment providing its brokers and clients in the commercial marketplace with a full array of quality services. Helmsley Spear has relocated from their previous office in the Lincoln Building located at 60 East 42nd St. "Helmsley Spear has been a leader in the commercial real estate industry for over 140 years and carries a time-honored name with deep ties to New York City. Moving into a new headquarters is a significant step for the firm as it now aligns Helmsley Spear with our Swig Equities' existing comprehensive business platform, which will provide additional and more efficient services for everyone," said Kent M. Swig. Helmsley Spear has been a leader in commercial real estate since 1866, evolving into a full-service firm providing highly-professional performance and bottom-line profitability for its clients. The company provides comprehensive real estate services including disciplines in office and retail leasing, investment sales, asset management, financing, capital advisory services, and property and facility management. Originally founded as L.B. Goodale, the company went through three ownership changes with new partners added in the first two decades of the twentieth century. Kent Swig now represents just the fourth owner of Helmsley Spear. "Helmsley Spear's current move to 770 Lexington Ave. will allow us to develop more efficient, effective, and better support for existing and future clients as well as our brokers, and will benefit from collective long-term growth as well as create a more efficient means to operate and expand our businesses," saidd John Farrell, senior VP and director of commercial leasing in N.Y. In addition, Helmsley Spear opened its first west coast office in San Francisco operating under the name of Helmsley Spear West, Inc., located within Swig Equities' owned building at 450 Sansome St., a 140,000 s/f office tower connected to San Francisco's Embarcadero Center. Jeffrey Congdon, senior VP of Helmsley Spear West, is leading the firm's expansion on the west coast. Swig Equities has created an operating platform with a comprehensive and sophisticated array of services upon which Helmsley Spear can draw to create a more productive, well-organized, and cost-effective basis for all operations. These services include property and asset management procedures and policies, accounting, financial reporting, human resources, payroll, information technology, market research, and economic forecasting. In addition, the project development department within Swig Equities, consisting of five full-time, architects, as well as Falcon Pacific Construction, is available to provide development and construction management services to Helmsley Spear clients seeking to redevelop and reposition their properties.