New York Market Overview

Market Overview:
Leasing was slow last month with the top 10 leases comprising only of 464,100 versus last month total of 2.9 million square feet. The total is also down year-over-year. The top 10 office leasing deals of August 2018 totaled about 1.3 million square feet.

1. EisnerAmper inked a 15-year lease for 125,000 square feet of space at 733 Third Avenue, The landlord is the Durst Organization.
2. New York Times signed a 15-year lease for 57,846 square feet of space at 24-01 44th Road. The landlord is United Nations Federal Credit Union.
3. WeWork firm inked a 15-year lease for 56,000 square feet of space at 83 Maiden Lane. The landlord is AHRC New York City.
4. PDT Partners inked a lease to renew its 50,000 square feet of space at 1745 Broadway. The landlord is Invesco Real Estate.
5. Unqork inked a sublease for 40,000 square feet of space at L&L Holding Company’s 114 Fifth Avenue. The sublandlord is Univision Communications.
6. Longevity Brands expanded its 10-year lease for 34,000 square feet of space at 250 West 39th Street. The landlord is Alduwaliya US Real Estate.
7. McCubbin Hosiery signed a five-year sublease for 26,476 square feet of space at 200 Madison Avenue. The space was formerly occupied and sublet out by Rose Associates.
8. Havas PR Worldwide expanded its 5-year sublease for 26,401 square feet of space at 200 Madison Avenue.
9. Downtown Music Publishing signed a lease for 26,399 square feet of space at 155 Sixth Avenue. The landlords are Trinity Church Wall Street, Norges Bank Real Estate Management and Hines.
10. MassMutual signed a lease for 22,000 square feet of space at 10 Grand Central. The landlord is Marx Realty & Improvement.

Nationwide retail store closures could top 12,000 by year-end. Large retail chains including Payless, ShoeSource and Gap have already announced 7,888 closures this year. Some off-price retailers, such as T.J. Maxx, however, are expanding.

Apparel and accessories retailers from luxury watches to sporting goods secured a big chunk of last month’s top leases. However, the largest lease last month was inked by a fitness club, gyms being a mainstay on these lists.
This month’s 10 biggest retail leases made public totaled 291,100 square feet, up 113,500 square feet from last month’s total of 177,600 square feet.

1. Life Time signed a lease for 77,000 square feet of space at Front & York, CIM Group and LIVWRK’s 1.1 million-square-foot development.
2. Whole Foods signed a lease for 60,000 square feet of space at the base of 63 Madison Avenue, a 15-story property. The landlord is George Comfort & Sons.
3. Burlington Coat Factory inked a lease for 40,834 square feet of space previously occupied by Toys “R” Us at 35-00 48th Street. The landlords are Heidenburg Properties and Lerner Properties.
4. Museum of Ice Cream inked a 10-year lease for 25,000 square feet of space at 558 Broadway. The space was previously occupied by H&M. The landlord is the Shemul family.
5. Artisanal Brewing Ventures signed a lease for 20,000 square feet of space at 94 9th Street, where it plans to develop a full-service kitchen and bar in addition to a production brewing system. The landlord is New York Industrie Capital Partners.
6. New York & Company signed a lease for 15,115 square feet of space at 159-10 Jamaica Avenue. The landlord is the Mattone Group.
7. Blink Fitness inked a lease for 15,000 square feet of space at 97-01 Northern Boulevard. The building’s landlord is 361 Henry LLC.
8. Modell’s Sporting Goods,signed a 15-year lease for 14,580 square feet of space at 619 West 181st Street. The landlord is Rosewood Holding.
9. Tourneau signed a short-term lease for 12,050 square feet of space previously leased to Armani at 601 Madison Avenue. The landlord is J-2.
10. Lightbridge Academy signed a 15-year lease for 11,491 square feet of space at 606 West 57th Street. The landlord is TF Cornerstone.

Tech companies have expanded their footprints over the last few years. TAMI tenants inked 74.3% more space in the second quarter of 2019 than they did the year prior. Slack, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Amazon are looking to expand their existing locations.

Building Sales:

Manhattan investment sales slowed with $2.06 billion in deals recorded, a 41% drop from June and 17% below the 12-month average. The largest deal went to DivcoWest Real Estate Investments, which paid Boston Properties $310 million for 540 Madison Avenue, Divco’s second NYC office building.

Foreign investors have been the worst hit by NYC’s turning real estate market. From Shanghai Municipal Investment’s $65 million loss on 520 Fifth Avenue to DekaImmobilien’s expected $100 million loss at the Marriott East Side Hotel. Big foreign buyers who invested late in the cycle are taking steep losses.

Foreign buyers acquired just under $8 billion worth of commercial property in the five boroughs in 2017 and $9.5 billion last year, down from about $20.2 billion in 2015 and $15.8 billion in 2016. The Canadians and the Germans are the two groups that are most active in the New York City market.

Demand for commercial architecture services has slumped. After soft scores in July, the demand went into negative territory in August.