Bear Stearns' new home

For the past three years, Bear Stearns Cos. has searched the city for a location to build a new headquarters. Now, real estate sources say, the investment bank is poised to land at the controversial development site near Grand Central that it was maneuvered out of last winter.

That site, 383 Madison Ave., a square block between 46th and 47th streets owned by Saudi Arabids al-Babtain family, is considered Manhattan's premier development site.

Bear Stearns, which posted revenues of more than $ 6 billion last year and wants to put up a new 1 million-square-foot office tower, is the city's biggest gorilla prowling the office market.

The two former combatants--pitted against each other last year when Bear Stearns snagged the site only to be pushed aside by the al-Babtains--appear to be moving toward an agreement. Talk spread through the real estate industry last week that Bear Stearns was back on 383 Madison and that an agreement was nigh.

Bear Stearns declined to comment. The Saudis' real estate lawyer at Cahill Gordon & Reindel did not return calls, while their adviser at Cushman & Wakefield Inc. said he had no knowledge" of ongoing discussions.

If a deal is reached, it would be a coup for Bear Stearns' powerful chairman, Alan C. "Ace" Greenberg, and for developer Fred Wilpon, the owner of the New York Mets and a Bear Stearns' board member, who has been spearheading the search.

"I'd hope that by the end of the year a deal would be concluded," says Mr. Wilpon, although he declines to comment on any of the specific sites considered.

An agreement between Bear Stearns and the...