NEW YORK (Bloomberg) - Morgan Stanley may be the next tenant at the former home of rival Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Morgan Stanley is searching for about one million square feet (93,000 square metres) of offices in lower Manhattan and is considering 1 New York Plaza, where it already rents, and Goldman Sachs's former headquarters at 85 Broad St., three people with knowledge of the discussions said. The bank also is looking at other properties as it seeks to consolidate some of its downtown operations, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because the talks are private.

Goldman Sachs, the most profitable firm in Wall Street history, moved its headquarters to a new 43-story skyscraper at 200 West St. this year after almost three decades at 85 Broad St., a 1.2 million square-foot tower it built for itself in the early 1980s. Bank of America Corp. and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. have also considered leasing at 85 Broad, one person said.

"How can you not?" said Robert Sammons, director of research in the New York office of Cassidy Turley, a brokerage that isn't involved in the tower's leasing. "It's got all the bells and whistles that they would need. All that extra power they would need is already there, and ready to rock and roll."

Morgan Stanley, based in Midtown, is seeking space in lower Manhattan as vacancies in the area climb, in part because of moves by Goldman Sachs and insurer American International Group Inc. The downtown office vacancy rate jumped to a six-year high of 12.1 percent in the third quarter from 9.9 percent a year earlier, according to Cushman & Wakefield Inc. Another 4.4 million square feet becomes available at the World Trade Center in 2013, and 4.6 million square feet of Bank of America leases expire that year at the World Financial Center.

Morgan Stanley has exchanged potential leasing terms with representatives of MetLife Inc., which owns 85 Broad St., and has done test layouts to examine how its operations would fit into the building, two people briefed on the negotiations said.

Mark Lake, a Morgan Stanley spokesman, declined to comment, as did James Kuhn, president of Newmark Knight Frank, the broker representing the bank. TJ Crawford, a spokesman for Bank of America, and Jeep Crystal, a representative for Bank of New York, also declined to comment.

Peter Riguardi, MetLife's broker for 85 Broad, and president of New York operations for Jones Lang LaSalle Inc., did not return phone calls.

"We have had strong interest in the property and we continue to have strong interest, but we have nothing to report at this time," said John Calagna, a MetLife spokesman.

Morgan Stanley, the sixth-largest US bank by assets, is a long way from deciding where to house its downtown operations, the people said. The company has also looked at potential layouts at 1 New York Plaza, where it rents about 750,000 square feet, two people said.

Goldman is leaving behind about 550,000 square feet at 1 New York as it moves to its new headquarters, according to data from CoStar Group Inc., a Bethesda, Maryland-based real estate information service.