UBS Financial Services is pulling up stakes in downtown Columbus and moving to Upper Arlington, where it will join an existing office in Arlington Falls.

All 39 employees will relocate in April, creating a 19,000-square-foot vacancy on the 33rd floor of the Huntington Center, 41 S. High St.

UBS now has 30 employees in a 20,000-square-foot building at 5007 Horizon Drive in Arlington Falls, an office condominium complex off Henderson Road. Upper Arlington City Council in 2007 granted a development group, run by Pickett Holtslaw Byrne Realty Advisers, a 10-year, 40-percent tax abatement on the site, which includes 80,000 square feet total of office space.

In return, each building must maintain a minimum payroll threshold. UBS must keep an annual payroll of at least $2.75-million, said Matthew Shad, assistant city manager of Upper Arlington.

Upper Arlington has several financial services clustered in that area of town, including Cambridge Financial Group, Wellstone and Hamilton Capital Management.

"For us, it's been one of those strong areas that fits us," Shad said.

Local retail analyst Chris Boring agreed that the move is a good situation for the northwest suburb.

"That really is the type of employer Upper Arlington is trying to attract," he said.

Losing 39 employees to a suburb and creating a big vacancy in the epicenter of Columbus is not good news for downtown, said German Village resident Matt Ferris, who ran unsuccessfully for Columbus City Council in November.

"In and of itself it's a big deal, but also I think it's foreshadowing what's to come," said Ferris, who runs a financial-planning firm in the Brewery District and was an outspoken critic of the 0.5-cent income tax increase passed by voters in August.