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When The Equitable Companies moved its Manhattan headquarters from one block to the next, it also moved from the glitzy '80s to the modular, mobile '90s
"In its former headquarters, Equitable had a board room on the top floor," says Bob Sutter, president of The Switzer Group, the New York-based architect firm that recently designed The Equitable Companies' new Manhattan headquarters at 1290 Avenue of the Americas. "It was like the halls of Congress, a spectacular double-height space with panoramic views on about the 50th floor. Now they're putting a boardroom in their new space. It's not at the top of the building, it's not double or triple height, but it's nice."
Equitable, like many other financial services companies, is downplaying the glitz. It's not that these are particularly hard times: Unemployment is at its lowest point in 30 years, as the President keeps reminding us. And FED Chairman Alan Greenspan reports there is no sign of inflation on the horizon. For Equitable, as for many companies in the current economic climate, business is good. In 1998, the company's total assets under management increased by 27 percent to a record $348 billion.
And yet, companies that loosened their belts in the '80s by officing in marble-and-glass monuments to capitalism have turned their focus to training, technology, and workplace flexibility in the '90s.
In fact, in 1994 when Equitable decided to consolidate several satellite offices and move its headquarters, Sutter says that the company made its cost-cutting intentions clear to his firm, as well as to four or five others bidding on the project. "They were in lavish, large offices and wanted to reduce their square footage," he recalls. "Unlike traditional bids, we had to tell them how we would save them X dollars in occupancy costs per year. At the same time, we had to work within their space standards, number of people, real estate, and ancillary space needs."
Winning the bid hinged on planning a space-efficient office. However, it didn't hurt that Equitable had been a Switzer Group client since the early '80s on office projects at Two Penn Plaza and Rector St. in Manhattan.
"We weren't in a single location. As a result, we felt we weren't getting the synergy of...