Morgan Stanley is moving its individual investor group headquarters to Westchester, N.Y., and expects to move the municipal fixed-income trading group there in early May, according to a company source. The public finance bankers will remain in New York City, the source said.
Diana Quintero, a spokeswoman for Morgan Stanley, declined to comment on the status of the municipal group. She said yesterday that the firm will be moving professionals to 2000 Westchester Ave. in Harrison, N.Y., on a rolling schedule throughout the year.
The spokeswoman said that about 1,200 people will be moved from different offices in New York to the new headquarters. She noted that Westchester will be the headquarters for the individual investor group along with some institutional sales and trading.
After Sept. 11, 2001, we reassessed our needs, and Westchester solves the need for diversification of our locations in New York, Quintero said.
Prior to its move to Westchester, Morgan Stanley had its offices concentrated in Midtown and lower Manhattan. The firms global headquarters are located at 1585 Broadway.
Along the same lines, Jon Mastrandrea, a former trader at Morgan Stanley, was hired by Merrill Lynch & Co. for its fixed-income trading group early this week. A spokesman for Merrill did not return calls by press time.
Mark Lake, a spokesman for Morgan Stanley, confirmed Mastrandreas exit.
The new individual investor group headquarters is in the building that was the former world headquarters of Texaco Inc. The 725,000-square-foot, four-story building was sold to Morgan Stanley in 2002 after the merger of Chevron Corp. and Texaco in 2001.
