Separate reports by major brokerages CBRE and JLL show that the Manhattan office market is removed from dead — and even stagnant.
The surveys illustrate the extent to which the highest tier of the office market is “impervious” to woes on the lower end, as CBRE phrased it. (The information from each firms include each recent leases and renewals.)
Tucked into CBRE’s survey of Manhattan office leases signed for $100-and-up per square foot in 2023 — there have been 128 of them, including two for $200-plus — was one other stunning statistic:
Availability on the prime corridor of market-driving Park Avenue was just 9.4% at 12 months’s end, compared with overall Manhattan availability of 20%.
What little space stays available on the boulevard goes fast.
As we recently reported, PJT Partners expanded at SL Green’s 280 Park Ave. and Stonepeak Partners signed at SLG’s 245 Park.
PJT Partners expanded at SL Green’s 280 Park Ave. Stefano Giovannini
Meanwhile, JLL reports a better number than CBRE within the “$100-plus club” — an awesome 191 deals (its sample includes some laboratory and bio-medical leases).
The report by a JLL team led by Cynthia Wasserberger noted that Aby Rosen’s Seagram Constructing at 375 Park Ave. had a dozen transactions at $100 or more, probably the most in a single constructing.
Locations with probably the most square feet leased at a minimum of $100 per square foot were 350 Park Ave. (485,460 square feet); 20 Hudson Yards (432,085 sf); 280 Park Ave. (398,535 sf); and 550 Madison Ave. (303,543 sf).
The Seagram Constructing had a dozen transactions at $100 or more. Stefano Giovannini
Wasserberger said, “While many tenants focused on right-sizing operations over the past few years, 2023 was all about growth and expansion amongst larger occupants.”
“Tenants within the 10 largest top-tier transactions all expanded and grew appreciably of their recent commitments,” she said.”
It is likely to be one other few weeks before all of the year-end lease signings come to light. But one major tenant that expanded was DoorDash, which inked a direct lease for 115,382 square feet at 200 Fifth Ave. on Dec. 23. The constructing is owned by a three way partnership of Boston Properties and J.P. Morgan Global Alternatives.
The deal marks significant growth for the online food delivery platform, which previously occupied only half as much space under a sublease.
The now fully-leased, 860,000 square-foot, modernized prewar tower is home to Tiffany’s global headquarters amongst other A-list office tenants, but is best known to the general public as home to Eataly’s Manhattan flagship store.
