HSBC Takes 265k-SF at The Spiral in Headquarters Move

Global banking and financial services company HSBC is moving its US headquarters to The Spiral, a 65-story, 2.8 million-square-foot office tower in Manhattan currently being developed by Tishman Speyer. HSBC has signed a 20-year, 265,000-square-foot lease at the property. HSBC will relocate its current offices from Midtown Manhattan in January 2024.

HSBC will occupy three podium-style floors, which means they are nearly column-less. It will also occupy a double-height space on the 29th and 30th floors. As part of the deal, the bank will open a street-level Wealth Center at the property, which will feature a direct connection to a dedicated entrance and lobby. According to the bank, this new space will accommodate its “hybrid workforce.”

Peter Riguardi, Matt Astrachan, Ken Siegel, Mitch Konsker and Will McGarry of JLL represented HSBC on the transaction.  Tishman Speyer’s in-house leasing team represented the firm in the deal.

With this lease, Tishman Speyer has pre-leased 70% of the property. In addition to HSBC, Pfizer will locate its global headquarters across 14 floors in the property; law firm Debevoise & Plimpton LLP has committed to 13 floors; AllianceBernstein has pre-leased another three-and-a-half floors; and Turner Construction is set to occupy two floors.

The Spiral is a LEED Gold-certified building with SMART features throughout operations and management systems, a series of landscaped terraces and hanging gardens to provide greenspace to the entire building and a clubhouse and amenity center on the top floor. The building is scheduled to open this summer.

The lease is not only a significant boon for Tishman Speyer but also the Manhattan office leasing market, which has struggled to gain its footing following the pandemic. According to the first quarter report from Colliers, Manhattan office leasing fell 11.6%, and office demand was 7.1% below Manhattan’s five-year rolling average and 6.9% below the ten-year average. It isn’t odd to see a fourth quarter-to-first-quarter decrease in leasing activity. In fact, there has been a decrease from Q4 to Q1 for the last seven years, with an average decline of 17.5%. There were also several positive signs that demand for office space is returning to the market. Leasing volume increased 67.5% and average rents increased 2.6% year-over-year, although they still trail below the rate at the start of the pandemic, down 5.5%.