By Gus Delaporte 6/11 7:45am

Market Report

770 Broadway

Leasing Activity Up in May as Tech Firms Dominate

Manhattan leasing activity was up 24 percent year-over-year in May to 2.08 million square feet, up from 1.68 million square feet in May 2012, according to CBRE’s latest Manhattan Marketview Snapshot. The three largest new leases were from tech firms, including Facebook’s new lease at 770 Broadway, the report noted.

Tech leasing was led by Yahoo!, which snapped up 176,201 square feet at 229 West 43rd Street, the former headquarters of The New York Times. Yahoo!’s lease led the Midtown market, where leasing was up 26 percent over the five-year average of 1.17 million square feet. Read More

By Billy Gray 6/04 1:15pm

Facelifts

770 Broadway

Frank Gehry to Design Facebook’s New Offices at 770 Broadway

A-list starchitect Frank Gehry will team up with Facebook on the design of the social media kingpin’s “big,” “open” and “cozy” new offices at 770 Broadway in New York.

Mr. Gehry is currently working with Facebook on the expansion of its Menlo Park, California headquarters. The 100,000-square-foot Village office will share certain elements–collaborative spaces, an uncluttered floor plan, an abundance of white boards and videoconferencing rooms–with the West Coast mothership but, per an announcement by Facebook’s New York engineering team site director Serkan Piantino, also “be distinctly Big Apple in design.” Read More

By Al Barbarino 4/09 8:00am

The Sit-Down

EJM press higher res.

Master of His Domain: Edward Minskoff on 51 Astor

Edward Minskoff has developed close to 37 million square feet of property in 10 cities around the country. His latest dive into Midtown South comes at 51 Astor Place, where a 13-story, 430,000-square-foot dark glass building will open next month, fueled by a red-hot office market and Mr. Minskoff’s personal faith that the neighborhood will Read More

By Jotham Sederstrom 2/22 9:00am

Postings

CO 2-19 Postings

The B Team: The Biggest Occupancy Shifts in Class B and Class A Buildings

For the first time in recent history, the availability rate across Manhattan’s stock of Class B buildings is lower than that of their Class A counterparts, suggesting a flight to value, propelled in part by the latest wave of technology startups and media companies looking for affordable space. Indeed, at 10.6 percent, the current availability rate for Class B space is 170 basis points less than the Class A rate of 12.3 percent, according to Richard Persichetti of Cassidy Turley.

With Cassidy Turley’s help, The Commercial Observer decided to put a spotlight on some of the most dramatic occupancy shifts across Manhattan over the last three years. Read More

By Al Barbarino 2/11 12:19pm

Market Reports

(Credit: Michael Nagle/Getty)

Midtown South Landlords Rule With Iron Fist Despite Spike in Availability

Despite a fair share of new product hitting the Midtown South market in January, landlords continued to call the shots, seeking ever-growing rents in the city’s epicenter for tech and creative companies, the latest data from Cushman & Wakefield shows.

The data shows that total space increased year-over-year in January by 9.8 percent to more than 4.52 million square feet, yet average rents also increased by 10.7 percent to $50.61 per square foot.

The boost in available product was pronounced among Class A and Class B properties, with 41.03 and 47.1 percent increases, respectively.

“It is still a landlord’s market even though that space has come online,” said Ken McCarthy, C&W’s chief economist.  “Anyone adding space to the market is asking higher rents.” Read More

By Daniel Geiger 8/21/12 3:04pm

Lease Beat

770 Broadway

J.Crew Expands at 770 Broadway

Retailer J.Crew is expanding its Manhattan corporate offices at 770 Broadway sources say.

Three floors are available at the 1.1 million-square-foot office tower and J.Crew will take one of them in the deal, a roughly 80,000-square-foot space.

Last summer, the company renewed its roughly 300,000 square feet in the building, which is owned by the real estate investment trust Vornado. Read More

By Daniel Geiger 6/22/12 5:26pm

Lease Beat

Google

Google Narrows Expansion Search

Google is searching the market for around 80,000 square feet and the Internet giant is looking closely at 450 West 15th Street and 770 Broadway sources have revealed to The Commercial Observer.

As The CO previously reported, Google has had difficulty buying tenants from their leases at 111 Eighth Avenue, the large Chelsea office building that the company bought at the beginning of 2011 for a whopping $2 billion. Read More

By Daniel Geiger 6/06/12 8:30am

Lease Beat

770 Broadway

Nielsen Looks To Downsize And Vornado Stands To Profit

Nielsen is looking to downsize and Vornado, the company’s landlord at 770 Broadway, stands to profit.

The media, marketing and advertising research company, according to a report yesterday in The Wall Street Journal, has hired a leasing team from the brokerage firm CBRE to sublease its space at the 1.1 million-square-foot building amid a boom in the Midtown South Read More