NEW YORK CITY—Last year, 34 of the 50 largest office leases were located in Midtown. This was down from 37 leases from the year before but up 21% to 10.2 million square feet of space. Based on square feet, Midtown accounted for approximately 72% of the leasing activity.
The West Side of Manhattan, led by Sixth Avenue, saw strong leasing, comprising 29 of the 50 largest leases. Sixth Avenue ranked first among all locations in Manhattan for the second year, accounting for 10 of the 50 largest leases, totaling 3.27 million square feet. That was up about 42% from the 2.31 million square feet in 2016.
The Avenue of the Americas Association (named after the passage locals still call Sixth Avenue) and Rockefeller Group, admittedly both Midtown organizations, authored the second annual Avenue Report, using office leasing data compiled by CoStar.
Daniel Moore, Rockefeller Group president and CEO-elect, notes office tenants prefer new or like-new, amenity rich, highly accessible properties. “New and renovated properties throughout Manhattan have benefitted from this trend with Midtown standing out as the location of choice, whether it be in centrally located renovated buildings along Sixth and Seventh avenues or the new developments on the Far West Side,” says Moore.
The survey rankings acknowledged the growing clout of Hudson Yards, noting new office developments on Tenth Avenue.
In 2017, tenants signed more new leases compared to renewals or expansions, comprising 30 of the 50 largest leases up from 29 in 2016. BlackRock signed the largest new lease of the year, for 846,900 square feet at 50 Hudson Yards. The largest renewal which included an expansion was 21st Century Fox's lease for 793,687 square feet at 1211 Sixth Ave.
With the largest offices leases, on Sixth Avenue there were 10, totaling 3.28 million square feet. On Tenth Avenue there were four, totaling 1.66 million square feet. On Seventh Avenue six new leases were signed but for smaller spaces, totaling 1.65 million square feet.
The 10 avenues and streets with the largest office leases in descending order were Sixth Avenue, Tenth Avenue, Seventh Avenue, Liberty Street, Broadway, Ninth Avenue, Fifth Avenue, Church Street, Lexington Avenue and Madison Avenue.
Park Avenue, Water Street, Second Avenue and Third Avenue were bumped from the top 10 for 2017.
With the East Midtown rezoning and the continued development of Hudson Yards, the competition for large office leasing will become an even more rousing scrimmage in upcoming months and years.
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Betsy Kim
Betsy Kim was the bureau chief, East Coast, and New York City reporter for Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com. As a lawyer and journalist, Betsy has worked as the director of editorial and content for LexisNexis Lawyers.com, a TV/multi-media journalist for NBC and CBS affiliated TV stations in the Midwest, and an associate producer at Court TV.
