As the leaves started to fall, Manhattan office leasing surged.
Tenants inked deals for 3.6 million square feet in October, up a third from September, according to a new Colliers report. That pushed year-to-date demand to 33.7 million square feet, already eclipsing last year’s total. If the pace holds, 2025 could mark the first time since 2019 that annual leasing activity tops 40 million square feet.
The month’s largest lease was a 377,000-square-foot short-term extension by Ropes & Gray at Ivanhoé Cambridge and RXR’s 1211 Sixth Avenue, per Colliers. The law firm has plans to relocate to RXR’s 1285 Sixth Avenue.
Fintech firm Stripe inked the second-largest lease at Fosun International’s 28 Liberty Street, a 139,000-square-foot expansion. Brokerage BGC Group inked a 129,000-square-foot renewal and expansion at 55 Water Street, owned by the Retirement Systems of Alabama, marking the month’s third-largest lease.
Other large leases include law firm BakerHostetler’s 115,000 renewal and relocation at Tishman Speyer’s 45 Rockefeller Plaza, and a new 103,000-square-foot sublease by investment firm Sixth Street at Tishman’s Spiral building in Hudson Yards, according to Colliers.
As tenants gobbled up space, availability fell to 14.3 percent, the lowest since late 2020. Sublet space dropped for the 13th consecutive month, down 730,000 square feet to 11.8 million, dipping to pre-pandemic levels for the first time since March 2020.
Midtown held steady with 1.5 million square feet leased. Availability there tightened to 13 percent as large blocks of space came off the market. The average asking rents rose to about $81 per foot, the highest in nearly five years. Midtown South saw the biggest surge. Leasing there jumped 78 percent from September to 1.4 million square feet.
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