New York's largest office leases of 2017 were in Midtown Manhattan, the most active submarket in the city
New York’s largest office leases of 2017 were in Midtown Manhattan, the most active submarket in the city.
The annual Avenue Report from the Rockefella Group reveals that, based on CoStar data, the West Side of Manhattan, led by Sixth Avenue, accounted for almost 60% of office leasing activity.
Sixth Avenue saw 10 of the 50 largest office leases and a total 3.27 million square feet in 2017, up nearly 42% from 2016.
Among other streets with strong activity were Tenth Avenue, Seventh Avenue, and Ninth Avenue. The iconic Broadway was the fifth most active street for office leasing with 1.14 million square feet from 2 leases on the West Side and three in Lower Manhattan.
In total 34 of the 50 largest leases on CoStar's Top Manhattan Office Leases list were located in Midtown, down from 37 leases in 2016, but up 21% to 10.2 million square feet leased. Lower Manhattan activity jumped to 11 leases in 2017, up from six in 2016.
There were more new leases in 2017 than renewals or expansions, 30 of the 50 largest leases.
BlackRock's 846,990-square-foot lease at 50 Hudson Yards was the largest new lease overall; while the largest with a renewal component was 21st Century Fox’s 1211 Sixth Avenue location comprising 793,687 square feet.
"To attract and retain talent, the largest and most sophisticated office tenants continue to demonstrate a preference for new or like-new physical assets in highly accessible, amenity rich environments," said Daniel Moore, Rockefeller Group president and CEO-elect.
"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," he added.
