The Final Bell: Trading Ends on Spring Street

Cheering and tossing papers into the air, traders on the Pacific Stock Exchange on Friday celebrated the exchange’s final closing at its 54-year-old location at 618 S. Spring St.

On Monday, the exchange will begin operations at its new $5-million facility in the Beaudry Center II building at 233 S. Beaudry Ave.

The move to a larger, more modern floor has been awaited for years by Pacific officials and traders who have complained about the crowded conditions and deteriorating neighborhood on Spring Street.

Officials hope the move will spur an increase in trading volume for the exchange, which is locked in an intensifying competitive battle with the New York Stock Exchange and other major Eastern exchanges.

“The new location will handle our growth that has already happened and help us prepare for growth in the future,” said James S. Gallagher, the PSE’s president and chief operating officer, noting that the exchange has enjoyed a 16% annual compounded growth rate in trading volume over the last 20 years.

Space at the new location will be nearly double that of the old location, allowing for the addition of new posts for specialists and floor brokers. Traders are understandably excited over the move.

“We won’t be running into each other any more,” Michael Cullen, floor trader for William O’Neil & Co., said of the larger Beaudry location.