New York Market Overview

Office rents on Fifth Avenue are the second-most expensive in the country. Average asking rents on the Midtown stretch between 50th and 61st streets clocked in at $116.04 per square foot, and at the top end of the range reached $185 per square foot.

Manhattan’s office-leasing market stood tall. Tenants flocked to get deals done, particularly in new buildings on the Far West Side and in Lower Manhattan, pushing leasing volumes ahead of last year’s figures.

In fact, half of the year’s Top 10 most valuable office leases were inked at Hudson Yards and Manhattan West.

The 10 biggest new real estate projects of 2017:

1) 546 Gulf Avenue, Staten Island
Matrix Development Group is planning a 2.3 million-square-foot commercial manufacturing building in the Bloomfield section of Staten Island. In June, Amazon announced that it would take 975,000 square feet at the warehouse for its first-ever distribution center in New York City. The project will eventually span 3.5 million square feet.

2) 401 West 31st Street, Manhattan
Brookfield Property Partners filed plans for a 59-story, 1.75-million-square-foot office tower at 401 West 31st Street. Construction on One Manhattan West, a 62-story office tower, is underway and Brookfield recently completed the $350 million redevelopment of 5 Manhattan West, a 16-story office building.

3) 85 Jay Street, Brooklyn
Kushner Companies, along with CIM Group and LIVWRK, plan to build a 21-story residential building at 85 Jay Street. The building will span 874,149 square feet and feature 737 apartments.

4) 52-03 Center Boulevard, Queens
In October, TF Cornerstone proposed a 776,624-square-foot residential building in Long Island City. The 56-story, 800-unit building will rise 587 feet and is part of TF Cornerstone’s Hunter’s Point South Towers project, a two-building complex that will feature 1,193 apartments.

5) 520 West 41st Street, Manhattan
Silverstein proposed a 723-foot-tall building at 521 West 41st Street, which will feature 547,718 square feet of residential space, with another 63,000 square feet of commercial space.

6) 201 East 125th Street, Manhattan
The Richman Group filed plans for a 19-story apartment building in East Harlem. The project’s 404 apartments will stretch out across 359,479 square feet, and an additional 60,732 square feet will be set aside for commercial use.

7) 92-23 168th Street, Queens
Omni New York filed plans for a 412,862-square-foot mixed-use building that will feature 389 affordable apartments in Jamaica Queens.

8) 250 Euclid Avenue, Brooklyn
Phipps Houses is building a 400-plus unit residential project at 250 Euclid Avenue in the Cypress Hills section of East New York. The building is expected to span nearly 400,000 square feet and include more than 20,000 square feet of ground-level retail.

9) 420 Albee Square, Brooklyn
JEMB Realty filed plans for a 385,457-square-foot office building at 420 Albee Square, which it is calling “One Willoughby Square.”

10) 26-40 First Street, Queens
The Durst Organization moved forward this year with its seven-building complex on Astoria’s waterfront, known as Hallets Point. In April, the developer filed plans for two mixed-use buildings. The larger of the two, 26-40 First Street, will span 349,470 square feet and will have 358 apartments. The smaller one, 26-02 1st Street, will span 269,346 square feet.

The 10 most valuable Manhattan condo filings accepted in 2017:

1 Central Park Tower, 217 West 57th Street, Extell Development, $4 billion, 179 New
2 Belnord, 2360-2376 Broadway, HFZ Capital Group, $1.4 billion, 213 Conversion
3 125 Greenwich Street, Bizzi & Partners, New Valley, $875 million, 275 New
4 30 Riverside Boulevard, GID Development Group, $653 million,160 New
5 108 Leonard Street, Elad Group, Peebles Corp., $637 million, 152 Conversion
6 277 Fifth Avenue, Victor Group and Lendlease, $535 million, 113 New
7 49 Chambers Street, Chetrit Group, $334 million, 99 Conversion
8 91 Leonard Street, Toll Brothers, $323 million, 111 New
9 10 Riverside Boulevard, GID Development Group, $315 million, 56 New
10 40 Bleecker Street, Broad Street Development, $289 million, 61 Conversion


Large Retail leases 2017:

1) Hyundai/Genesis 40 10th Avenue
$11 million
Genesis, the high-end luxury brand from South Korean automaker Hyundai, inked 2017’s priciest lease late in the year when it signed on for about 40,000 square feet at the base of Aurora Capital Associates and William Gottlieb Real Estate’s Meatpacking District development at 40 10th Avenue.

2) Sephora 1535 Broadway
$10 million to $11 million
Sephora inked a lease to relocate across the Times Square “bow tie” to Vornado Realty Trust’s redevelopment of 1535 Broadway. Sephora took around 6,000 square feet on the ground floor and another 12,000 square feet on the lower level at the base of the Marriott Marquis hotel.

3) Levi’s 1535 Broadway
$10 million to $11 million
Levi’s rented a 17,250-square-foot lease at the building. Levi’s will relocate its current Times Square store across the bow tie at Levin Management’s 1501 Broadway, and expects to open its store by the end of 2018.

4) Palace Entertainment 11 Times Square
$7.9 million
As landlords turn to experiential retail to insulate themselves from e-commerce, SJP Properties inked a 45,000-square-foot deal at 11|X, formerly known as 11 Times Square to the Madrid-based entertainment center developer Parques Reunidos.

5) 1515 Broadway
$6 million
The South Korean offshoot of the popular messaging app LINE signed a 10-year, 4,629-square-foot lease with SL Green Realty. The deal came with 65 feet of wraparound frontage and rights to a 1,314-square-foot LED sign.

6) FAO Schwarz
30 Rockefeller Plaza
$6 million
The storied toy shop is returning with a 19,000-square-foot deal at Rockefeller Center. FAO Schwarz’s new store will replace the NBC Experience Store.

7) Nordstrom Rack
855 Sixth Avenue
$5.8 million
Nordstrom Rack inked a deal with a 46,500-square-foot lease at 855 Sixth Avenue.

8) Old Navy
147 East 86th Street
$5.1 million
Old Navy signed a 15-year, 18,500-square-foot lease at 147 east 86th Street. The deal covers 5,600 square feet on the ground floor.

9) Target
112 West 34th Street
$4.3 million
The discount department store signed a lease for a 43,000-square-foot store at Empire State Realty Trust’s 112 West 34th Street.

10) CVS
1619 Broadway
$4 million
CVS signed a lease for 17,500 square feet at the Brill Building.

1) BlackRock
50 Hudson Yards
$1.6 billion
The Related Companies, Oxford Properties Group and Mitsui Fudosan America signed BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, as the anchor tenant for their 50 Hudson Yards office tower, which at 2.9 million square feet will be the largest building at their Hudson Yards megadevelopment. The 847,000-square-foot lease, which begins in 2023, will allow BlackRock to consolidate offices from Park Avenue, and runs for a term of 20 years. The starting rent was in the low $90s per square foot.

2) Estee Lauder
767 5th Avenue
$695.9 million
Estee Lauder decided to stay and renew with landlord Boston Properties. The 300,000-square-foot deal had the highest starting rent among the year’s 10 priciest leases, beginning in the low $120s per square foot.

New York Presbyterian this year bought a leasehold condo interest covering 500,000 square feet at RXR Realty and Walton Street Capital’s 237 Park Avenue. Had the deal been structured as a lease, it would have been valued at $1 billion, earning it the No. 2 spot among the year’s most valuable leases. 3) EY
1 Manhattan West
$654.14 million
EY inked a deal new headquarters at Brookfield Property Partners’ 1.8 million-square-foot 1 Manhattan West. The 604,295-square-foot deal is the largest yet at the tower, which also counts the National Hockey League, law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and the consulting firm Accenture. The starting rent was in the mid $80s per square foot.

4) Sidley Austin
787 7th Avenue
$598.34 million
Sidley Austin moved to 1.7 million-square-foot at 787 Seventh Avenue in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, inked a 20-year renewal for 347,672 square feet. The deal runs through 2037 and had a starting rent in the mid $80s per square foot.

5) Amazon
5 Manhattan West
$428.86 million
Amazon inked a 347,672-square-foot lease with Brookfield at 5 Manhattan West. With new outdoor spaces and a Whole Foods on the way, the building is home to two of the year’s priciest office leases.

6) Accenture
1 Manhattan West
$414.82 million
Accenture inked a 15-year lease covering 248,673 square feet. The deal came with a rent starting in the high $110s per square foot.

7) NYC Human Resources Administration
109 East 16th Street
$410.28 million
City’s Human Resources Administration inked a 349,777-square-foot renewal at Gould Investors’ 109 East 16th Street in Gramercy Park. The 20-year renewal had a starting rent in the mid $40’s per square foot.

8) JMPC Digital
5 Manhattan West
$394.3 million
JPMorgan Chase tripled its footprint in the building with a 305,365-square-foot lease for its digital group. The bank expanded its office space from 125,000 square feet to 428,000 square feet, enough space to accommodate 2,000 to 2,500 employees. The 15-year deal had a starting rent in the low $90’s per square foot.

9) Spotify
4 World Trade Center
$371.23 million
Spotify signed a 15-year, 378,814-square-foot lease at 4 World Trade Center with a starting rent in the mid $70’s per square foot. Spotify later in the year signed up for an additional 100,000 square feet.

Brookfield Place: 10) Royal Bank of Canada
200 Vesey Street
$343.84 million
Royal Bank of Canada signed a 15-year renewal covering 402,000 square feet, with a starting rent in the high $50’s per square foot.

1) Ernst & Young, 1 Manhattan West, Hudson Yards – 600,000 square feet
The accounting firm inked a lease for 600,000 square feet of office space at 1 Manhattan West. The firm, now known as “EY,” will occupy the 6th through 22nd floors at the 67-story tower. EY joins other tenants, such as Accenture and the NHL. Brookfield Property Partners is the landlord of the building.

2) Ann Inc., 7 Times Square, Times Square – 300,000 square feet
The parent company of fashion retailer Ann Taylor inked a lease for 300,000 square feet at 7 Times Square. The company signed a 15-year lease across three floors at the 47-story tower, Boston Properties is the landlord.

3) McKinsey & Co., 3 World Trade Center, Financial District – 200,000 square feet
The “big three” management-consulting firm signed a lease for 200,000 square feet at 3 World Trade Center in the 104-story tower. The firm will take the 60th, 61st, 62nd, 63rd and 64th floors of the building. Silverstein Properties is the landlord of the FiDi building.

4) C.V. Starr & Co., 399 Park Avenue – 123,000 square feet
The insurance company inked a lease for 123,000 square feet at 399 Park Avenue. Boston Properties is the landlord of the 39-story building.

5) Comcast, 1407 Broadway, Midtown South – 100,000 square feet
The cable and internet provider signed a 10-year lease for 100,000 square feet at 1407 Broadway. The firm will occupy the entire 11th and 12th floors, as well as part of the 14th floor at the 43-story tower. Asking rent was $65 per square foot.

6) Levi’s, 1535 Broadway, Midtown – 17,000 square feet
The denim company inked a lease for 17,250 square feet of retail space at 1535 Broadway. Vornado Realty Trust is the landlord of the building.

The company is selling its building at 306 East 61st Street to JMC Holdings for about $47 million.

Howard Hughes’ Pier 17 roof will house 4,000 concertgoers
Some residents are not happy that the roof of Pier 17 has become a 4,000-seat concert venue. Residents sounded off against the proposed use.