Above the old building entrance of Moody’s Investors Service hangs a huge bronze plaque with a picture of two men. One is a pioneer of the American West, and the other is a worker from the East who built the tools the pioneer used; they are clasping hands, signifying the bond of confidence in American commerce as aided by reliable credit information. In large letters, the plaque says: “Credit: man’s confidence in man.” Thousands of public officials, from governors to local municipal directors, have walked through those doors at 99 Church Street throughout the years to discuss credit ratings, and have been welcomed by the plaque that Moody’s employees have affectionately named Ike and Mike. But now, both Moody’s employees and their clients will walk through a new set of doors. Moody’s is heading west — two blocks, that is — and has made its home at the new 7 World Trade Center. While Moody’s could not take the original Ike and Mike plaque with them, the agency recognized its importance and commissioned a reproduction of the original George John Lober sculpture.The new Ike and Mike, produced by Global Design Unlimited, will hang in a conference room at 7 World Trade.“Ike and Mike is very big for us and our clients,” Moody’s managing director Gail Sussman. “So it’s good that it’s being reproduced because it is the cornerstone of what people think about us.”The public finance team, consisting of about 100 New York employees, moved into their new space last week. They were the third group of Moody’s 1,700 New York-based employees to make the move that is scheduled for completion by September.After having run out of room at 99 Church, Moody’s began looking for new office space in early 2006. All 11 floors of 99 Church were jammed full of Moody’s employees, so much so that the cafeteria seating within the building had been converted to office space more than a year ago. Additionally, a public finance team was based in Jersey City, but now the whole group has united at 7 World Trade.Named after its predecessor at the site, the first 7 World Trade was the third building to fall following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The new building is also the first commercial building erected at the site as part of its reconstruction. Because no lives were lost at 7 World Trade Center, and because it is technically separate from the World Trade Center site where there was tremendous debate about how to properly rebuild, Larry Silverstein, the developer, was able to build at 7 more quickly. Although by moving out of 99 Church Moody’s leaves behind 56 years of history, the move to 7 World Trade is predicated on many of the same conditions that originally prompted the move to Church Street. After the completion of 99 Church in 1951, Dun & Bradstreet, Moody’s predecessor, moved its employees there to consolidate the various offices of Dun & Bradstreet under one roof, and the building still had room for other tenants. At the time, 99 Church offered the most modern of offices, boasting “moving stairways” and radiant heating under the sidewalk to melt snow and ice in the winter, according to a 1951 New York Times article. But with the building now in need of a serious facelift, in addition to not being able to handle all of Moody’s employees, the company decided its best option was to leave, according to Arthur Skelskie, vice president of global real estate for Moody’s. The Moody’s-owned 99 Church also was sold to Silverstein Properties Inc., Moody’s new landlord.
The move to 7 World Trade Center, the first office building to be built in downtown New York in 20 years, puts Moody’s employees in a new modern locale. Instead of seeing Ike and Mike over the entrance, employees at 7 World Trade are greeted in the lobby by a large art installation with glowing text of phrases, poems, and songs about New York moving across the wall. Turnstiles in the entry area scan employees’ identification cards and tell them exactly which elevator to go to. Instead of waiting for an elevator with a number of people all going to different floors, colleagues on the same floor are all directed to the same elevator. The elevator, open and waiting for them, lifts them to their new offices without the riders having to tell it where to stop. Moody’s public finance employees are carried to their new office on the 23d floor. When they get off the elevator, they are greeted with an enlarged picture of a bond on the wall, and they head to their own office. While 99 Church is just 11 floors and looks more like a square cement box or an afterthought to the 792-foot Woolworth building next door, 7 World Trade Center stands 52 stories high and tenant floors begin on the 11th floor. Moody’s will occupy 17 floors, beginning on the 11th floor and going up to the 28th — minus the 13th. Fifteen of those floors will be used as office space, and the other two will be used for a cafeteria and the conference room where Ike and Mike will reside. Occupying 670,000 square feet, or 40% of the building, Moody’s is the largest tenant, and the company now has space for up to 2,300 employees.“The decision of a very old company like Moody’s to move into a brand new building in a very old business location shows that the business still has important historical roots but adapts to modern conditions,” said New York Historical Society public historian Kathleen Hulser. The move shows “that you can be both: you can have one foot in history and one foot in cutting edge buildings and businesses.”The MoveFor the public finance team, there was little time to revel in their new surroundings.“We were packed up by Friday, and by Monday, everything was here,” said senior analyst Nicole Johnson. “The boxes were right outside your door, and five minutes later, they were gone,” said managing director Robert Kurtter. While the public finance team is acclimating, there were apprehensions at first of leaving their old building.“There were some concerns about the [new] building, none of it was at all a surprise,” Skelskie said. Safety was a concern, as was the historical significance of the World Trade Center site where nearly 3,000 lives were lost on 9/11. After signing a 20-year lease in September 2006 at 7 World Trade, Moody’s made efforts to answer concerns people raised, and the company took hundreds of employees into the building to tour the new office. Moody’s also held its last annual holiday party at 7 World Trade on the empty raw construction floor to give employees a feel for the new space. “I had some fears early on when [Moody’s] announced the move, and I was hesitant about it, but I am pleasantly surprised,” said Johnson, whose new office overlooks Ground Zero. “It’s hard not to [think about 9/11], but it’s also good to see the rebuilding going on.”
“I don’t want to dismiss the fact that there are apprehensions,” Sussman said. “But I think we had a lot of lead time, there was a lot of discussion by our communications people, facilities people, and questions were answered on a regular basis.”The public finance team praised the leadership of administrative support manager Vicki Mocerino, who oversaw communication of the move for the public finance group regarding the move.When designing Moody’s new office space, the company wanted to “express the same feelings” of its old space with contemporary architecture, according to Skelskie. Daniel Aschenbach, senior vice president of the public finance group’s infrastructure finance team, acknowledged that while it was hard to leave 99 Church because it is such a part of Moody’s history, “this place seems to cushion some of that loss.”“Our senior management have really done well to make this space really be ours,” Sussman said. “It’s just so beautiful, and people feel good about it.”Although 7 World Trade boasts of being the most modern building downtown, the build out of Moody’s 15 office floors is simple and minimally decorated.. The offices are basic, furnished with desks, computers, and filing space. Certain elements show the modern qualities of the building, including motion-sensored lights that automatically turn on when people walk into an office and turn off when they leave.While the layout of the floors is more spacious, the new individual offices are actually smaller than those at 99 Church. Still, they offer more organizational compartments, making the office more efficient, Johnson said. Additionally, the building’s floor-to-ceiling windows usher more light into the office than they ever saw at 99 Church, which more than makes up for lost office space, Johnson said.Because taller buildings surround 99 Church, the public finance team does not miss the lack of sunshine or meager views of cement at the old facilities. Still, they acknowledged that there are a few quirks they miss. Sussman said the design of the new floor limits some of the casual contact between colleagues.“I don’t get to see as many people as I saw before,” Sussman said. “For me, it means I need to get out more often and actually walk around the floor and make an effort to see more people I used to see.”“We’re a little bit more spread out; the floor is bigger,” Johnson said. “And more people have offices with doors that close, so it’s quieter. I have to make more of an effort to make sure I see people.” Johnson is looking forward to having a cafeteria again so she can meet up with people in other departments for lunch.On the outside of 7 World Trade Center, the low-iron glass reflects light, which gives the exterior a bluish, silvery, or golden look at different junctures throughout the day, depending on the color of the sky. When it’s cloudy, the building reflects that, looking blue with bursts of white fluff. The New BuildingThe building is also the first certified “green” commercial building in New York City, and it was designed with energy and water conservation technologies. Additionally, Silverstein said safety was the emphasis of the design.“We decided early on that we wanted to build a building that was of the highest quality ever built in this country — the safest office building in America, the greenest office building in New York, and the most high-tech office building built anywhere,” said Silverstein marketing and communications director Dara McQuillan.Silverstein broke ground on 7 World Trade in May 2002 and completed it in May 2006. The money for the $700 million project came from proceeds of a $475 million tax-exempt Liberty bond sale in March 2005, as well as insurance proceeds. Neither Moody’s nor any other ratings agency rated the debt; rather, Banc of America Securities LLC priced the unenhanced, unrated deal to yield 6.75% in 2015 for $50 million of forward-delivery bonds, and from 6.25% in 2035 for the remainder of the bonds.The New York City Industrial Development Agency was the conduit issuer for the debt. While Silverstein holds a long-term lease on the 7 World Trade Center site, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey owns it. The lease is separate from Silverstein’s lease on the site that held the Twin Towers.
The bonds have an unusual four-year call option with a 3% premium. The call option was designed to allow the developer to refinance at better rates once the building is fully leased, and this was also priced into the deal at the time of the bond sale. Built without any tenant commitments, 7 World Trade Center occupants now include Moody’s as well as ABN AMRO, Ameriprise Financial, Darby & Darby PC, the New York Academy of Sciences, Mansueto Ventures LLC, Silverstein Properties, and World Trade Center Design Task Force. The top floors are not yet leased out. Moody’s, and all tenants in the building, were eligible for tax incentives that were established after 9/11 in an effort to revitalize downtown. “I think this is one of those circumstances where we did what was best for the company, but it was also a really good thing for New York City, and I think we all feel very good about that,” Skelskie said. Moody’s move to 7 World Trade Center is a “vote of confidence for the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan,” the historical society’s Hulser said.Although Silverstein has not announced yet what it will do with 99 Church, the public finance team won’t soon forget it.“I think that there are a lot of people that have a strong attachment to 99 Church Street,” Skelskie said. “There are a lot of people who spent their entire careers at Moody’s and therefore that building, and there’s a real sentimental attachment to it.”“Many of us grew up there, literally,” Sussman said. She noted that the public finance group planned one last Moody’s alumni party for the end of August that will be held in the old building before the entire move is complete.“Both buildings can be seen as stubborn survivors, in different ways according to different eras,” Hulser said. “In the 1950s, when 99 Church was erected, [David] Rockefeller’s Downtown Lower Manhattan Association was trying to find ways to check the business flight to midtown that was threatening the old economic center around Wall Street.” Four buildings, including the Freedom Tower, are scheduled for the World Trade Center site in the next several years.“There’s a beehive of activity,” Kurtter said. “It’s exciting to look out here and there’s all kinds of crane activity, and trucks moving in and out, and you can sort of see the layout of what’s coming on the site.”“It’s impossible to forget what happened here,” Johnson said. “But you move on in a way, with a little bit of the past and some of the present and the future.” Looking out the window of a conference room at the construction below 7 World Trade Center, Aschenbach referred to a slogan by the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation that sits at the entrance of the PATH train near the new building. It says: “Think back. Move Forward. It’s time.” “I thought to myself, that’s really what it is about, and we’re no different than anybody else around here,” Aschenbach said. “I think it’s great confidence that Moody’s shows that we relocated right at the epicenter of the industry, and I feel proud to be a part of that.” Photos by Ignacio Soltero
