Bids are due next Thursday, July 25th for the New York Mercantile Exchange building at One North End Avenue in the World Financial Center, The Post has learned.
“All the big boys have toured, including Beacon, Brookfield, Blackstone, L&L and RXR,” one source said.
NYMEX operator CME Group would like to take back a two-year master lease and then consolidate its energy market trading floor in 220,000 square feet in the lower portion of the building for 13 years, according to bidders.
This would give the new owner the opportunity to lease about 300,000 square feet on the upper floors to other companies.
As The Post first reported May 19, Jimmy Kuhn, Jennifer Schwartzman and Neil Goldmacher of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank were hired to sell the 16-story building.
Some commodities, energy and futures trading is still conducted at the building but much of the trading is now electronic.
The building has both triple- and double-height trading floors. One of those could be in-filled, essentially adding an extra interior floor so as to total roughly 552,000 square feet.
The 10th floor has a dining room, an outdoor patio, a boardroom, conference room, health club and library.
CME, the largest US futures exchange operator, acquired NYMEX Holdings in August 2008.