Manhattan's West Side Still Dominates The Borough For Large Office Leases
Although Downtown Manhattan has enjoyed increased leasing activity in the last few years, the West Side remains the borough's biggest office draw.
The West Side was the location for 29 of the 50 largest office leases in 2017, according to a report from the Avenue of the Americas Association, led by Rockefeller Group. Using data from CoStar, the report found that of the 34 Midtown leases that qualified for the top 50, only five were not on the West Side.
Sixth Avenue, or Avenue of the Americas, saw more than twice as many large leases as any other corridor in the borough, with 10 out of the top 50, the most notable being Twenty-First Century Fox and News Corp.'s renewal and expansion at 1211 Sixth Ave. Overall, new leases made up slightly more of 2017's activity than the year before, with 30 of the top 50 leases being new.
BlackRock's 875K SF lease at 50 Hudson Yards was 2017's largest, as the new neighborhood on the West Side continues to grow in influence. Brookfield has been a major driver and beneficiary, thanks to its holdings both downtown and in Hudson Yards, where its Manhattan West development has landed major tenants like EY. Brookfield led all Manhattan office landlords in terms of both deal volume and total square footage leased in 2017, including 2.6M SF of new leases.
