The Bermuda Monetary Authority has purchased the two-year-old Bermuda Commercial Bank building from Aswan Limited for an undisclosed price. It will rename the building after itself when it moves to the Victoria Street premises in 2008.

BMA chairman Cheryl Ann Lister said the property is an ideal new corporate headquarters as it will accommodate all staff and operations under one roof for the first time since the late 1990s. She declined to disclose how much the BMA paid for the building, however the price will eventually be made public in the BMA?s financial statements.

Sir John Swan, chairman of Aswan, the company that opened the building in 2002, said of the sale: ?For some time the BMA has been looking for a new location to consolidate the authority and its affairs. Over the years we have talked to them about what is available and they asked me very simply if I would consider selling them the Commercial Bank building. It is a rather attractive building. It is a very stately building and I said, yes. We are in the real estate business and obviously if there is an interest we would like to sit down and talk.?

The BMA?s announcement follows a move a few weeks ago that saw the BMA relocate all of its employees out of its headquarters on Burnaby Street to temporary offices on Reid Street.

The BMA has not yet officially decided what to do with that property, but Mrs. Lister said there is significant interest in it.

Mrs. Lister said: ?I?m not sure if we are going to sell it or rent it. We still haven?t made that final decision. That is a matter that the board is considering, but we expect a final decision will be made within the next three weeks. We have had a lot of interest and offers, both sides for rental and sale. People are aggressive and going after it, it has been quite amazing.?

The BMA paid Gosling Brothers $2.95 million for the eight floor building in 1995.

As for the current tenants of the Bermuda Commercial Bank building, AWAC will move into the AIG extension once an expansion of that building is complete. TBI?s president James Fitzgerald said his company was seeking space in three years time once his current Victoria Street lease expires. City Holding Limited, of which Sir John is also chairman, has already secured space to build a new headquarters for the Bermuda Commercial Bank.

The new building will be constructed on the current site of the BGA warehouse on Par-la-Ville Road. City Holding Limited already had crews on site to prepare the enormous pink building for renovation.

Sir John said: ?We started basement work already and we are going to demolish part of it but part of it is strong reinforced concrete and steel building already. We will take off the top floor and put steel with the existing steel and go up five floors to make it six floors.?

Sir John said that the demolition that needs to be done will occur within the next two months with plans to start the main construction by April 1. He said the 35,000 square foot office complex could be completed as soon as next April because the foundation and base already exist. The company has four other floors of the new Bermuda Commercial Bank available for lease. Sir John said that although interest is being shown, his company has not committed to anyone yet.