The 10 Biggest New York City Office Leases of 2022
By Nicholas Rizzi December 12, 2022 7:00 am
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This year looked like a mixed bag for office leasing.
While New York City office leasing speeded toward pre-pandemic levels in the third quarter of the year — leading Reuters to dub it a “gangbuster year” for leasing in the city — it now appears to be limping across the finish line.
October was the slowest month for leasing since May 2021 with 1.6 million square feet of deals, and November wasn’t much better with 1.5 million square feet notched. Many firms in different sectors decided to cut back on their office space the past year, and KPMG’s 456,518-square-foot deal at 2 Manhattan West, the largest this year, was a 40 percent reduction of the accounting giant’s New York City footprint.
Plus, no single lease in the city cracked the 1 million-square-foot mark (which three did in 2019), and KPMG’s lease was a bit lower than 2020’s largest (Facebook’s 730,000 square feet at the Farley Post Office) and 2021’s biggest (Blackstone’s 720,000-square-foot renewal at 345 Park Avenue).
Still, there were some bright spots for the industry. More expensive Class A was the clear commercial real estate winner of the pandemic, and the flight to quality everybody keeps going on and on about still reigned supreme in 2022.
Cases in point: Brookfield (BN) Properties’ 2 Manhattan West secured two spots on this year’s list while SL Green (SLG) Realty’s One Madison Avenue also got two. Tishman Speyer’s under-construction The Spiral also got a spot.
Commercial Observer asked CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield and JLL to provide the largest leases of the year, and checked them against news reports. Without further adieu, here’s your top 10.
1. KPMG, 2 Manhattan West
456,518
KPMG wasn’t planning to cut any space when it started looking for new New York City offices in 2018. But after the pandemic pushed it to a remote model, it decided to find a smaller space to save cash.
It eventually landed on Brookfield Properties’ 2 Manhattan West, in what the accounting firm previously told Commercial Observer was a “unanimous choice,” and locked down 456,518 square feet across 12 floors of the under-construction skyscraper for 20 years.
While the deal was a long-term commitment for a huge chunk of space in the Hudson Yards neighborhood, it was a consolidation of KPMG’s 800,000 square feet spread across 345 Park Avenue, 560 Lexington Avenue and 1350 Avenue of the Americas.
Brookfield handled the deal in-house via Jeremiah Larkin, Duncan McCuaig, Mikael Nahmias, P.J. Massey and Dave Caperna, along with Cushman & Wakefield’s Bruce Mosler, Josh Kuriloff, Robert Lowe, Ethan Silverstein, Matthias Li and Nicholas Dysenchuk.
Michael Geoghegan, Lewis Miller, Joseph Cabrera, Douglas Lehman and Cara Chayet of CBRE represented KPMG.
2. Franklin Templeton, One Madison Avenue
347,474
Brookfield’s Hudson Yards’ development wasn’t the only under-construction office tower attracting tenants this year. Aasset manager Franklin Templeton Investment committed to a 15-year lease for 347,474 square feet at SL Green Realty’s One Madison Avenue.
Franklin Templeton will move from 280 Park Avenue to 11 floors in the 1.4 million-square-foot office tower that’s set to come online next year. Asking rent was $145 per square foot.
SL Green secured its first lease for One Madison just a year ago with Chelsea Piers Fitness taking 56,000 square feet, and Franklin Templeton’s deal, along with one from IBM that also made this list, brought the tower to 55 percent leased.
JLL’s Paul Glickman, Alexander Chudnoff, Diana Biasotti and Benjamin Bass represented SL Green, while Robert Lowe, Jeff Cushman, John Cushman, Peyton Horn and Paige Engeldrum of Cushman & Wakefield handled it for Franklin Templeton.
3. IBM, One Madison Avenue
328,000
Didn’t have to wait too long to find about One Madison Avenue’s other lease on the list.
In March, tech giant IBM signed a 16-year lease for 328,000 square feet to anchor the 26-story tower, consolidating from 10 different offices spread across the city.
IBM — which will have its own lobby entrance — took parts of the ground and second through seventh floors along with the entire eighth through 10th floors of One Madison. Asking rents for floors two through nine were $115 per square foot while the 10th floor had an asking rent of $160 per square foot.
Paul Glickman, Alex Chudnoff, Diana Biasotti and Benjamin Bass of JLL brokered the deal for SL Green, while Cushman & Wakefield’s Patrick Murphy, Josh Kuriloff and Winston Schromm handled it for IBM.
4. Datadog, 620 Eighth Avenue
327,805
New construction’s reign on this year’s list comes to an end thanks to software company Datadog’s 327,805-square-foot renewal and expansion in The New York Times Building at 620 Eighth Avenue.
The data-monitoring company first relocated to 31,500 square feet at 620 Eighth in 2016, then later expanded to 97,805 square feet and finally renewed that space and tacked on another 230,000 square feet in the third quarter of this year.
Landlord Brookfield handled the deal in-house, while CBRE’s Jeff Fischer and Sacha Zarba represented Datadog.
5. Tiffany & Company, 200 Fifth Avenue
287,000
Jewelry purveyor Tiffany & Company was another firm to crack this list while shedding space.
In May, the company signed on for another decade in L&L Holding Company and Boston Properties’ 14-story 200 Fifth Avenue but cut its footprint from just over 410,000 to 287,000 square feet.
The reduction brings Tiffany close to the original 260,000 square feet it had when it first moved into 200 Fifth in 2010.
L&L handled the deal in-house via David Levinson and David Berkey, while Greg Taubin and Matthew Barlow of Savills represented Tiffany.
6. D.E. Shaw & Company, 2 Manhattan West
283,000
New construction is back on this list with hedge fund D.E. Shaw & Company taking 283,000 square feet at Brookfield’s 2 Manhattan West.
And unlike some other deals that cracked the top 10 this year, D.E. Shaw’s lease will actually be an upgrade from the 195,000 square feet it currently has at 1166 Avenue of the Americas.
D.E. Shaw plans to move in 2024 and will join law firms Cravath, Swaine & Moore and Clifford Chance in the building.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Bruce Mosler, Josh Kuriloff, Robert Lowe, Ethan Silverstein, Matthias Li and Nicholas Dysenchuk represented Brookfield, while Timothy Dempsey, Roger Griswold, Munish Viralam and Marlee Teplitzky of CBRE represented D.E. Shaw.
7. HSBC Bank, 66 Hudson Boulevard
265,000
We’re back to new construction with this entry, but also a reduction of office space.
HSBC Bank signed a 20-year lease to take 265,000 square feet at Tishman Speyer’s 66 Hudson Boulevard, also known as The Spiral.
The London-based bank will move its U.S. headquarters to The Spiral once the building is completed but will also reduce its space from the 548,000 square feet it has at 425 Fifth Avenue.
Tishman Speyer handled it in-house, while JLL’s Peter Riguardi, Matt Astrachan, Ken Siegel, Mitch Konsker and Will McGarry represented HSBC.
8. Mutual of America Financial Group, 320 Park Avenue
252,000
Mutual of America Financial Group sold a minority stake of 320 Park Avenue to Munich Re in 2021, but it wasn’t giving up its offices there.
The firm signed a lease to keep the 252,000-square-foot office it has occupied in the Midtown building since 1998. Asking rents in the property range from $90 to $150 per square foot.
JLL’s Frank Doyle and David Kleiner represented both Mutual of America and Munich Re in the deal.
9. Indeed, 1120 Avenue of the Americas
246,494
Job listings company Indeed indeed grew at 1120 Avenue of the Americas.
The firm inked a deal in the second quarter to renew its offices at 1120 Avenue of the Americas and expand to 246,494 square feet.
Indeed — which is co-headquartered in Austin, Texas, and Stamford, Conn. — first took 125,000 square feet at 1120 Avenue of the Americas, also known as the Hippodrome Building, in 2015 and tacked on another 121,494 square feet with its latest deal.
Landlord Edison Properties handled the deal in-house, while CBRE’s John Nugent, Sacha Zarba, Chris Mansfield, Jeff Fischer, Chris Hogan and Hayden Pascal represented Indeed.
10. Touro College, 3 Times Square
243,305
Last but not least was the surprising move of Times Square becoming a college town.
Touro College signed on for 243,305 square feet at Rudin Management Company's 3 Times Square to open a new campus at the Crossroads of the World.
While anybody who lived through the ’70s (or watched “Midnight Cowboy”) might be shocked that a den for higher learning was coming to Times Square, the area has come a long way to become a family-friendly district, and Touro College was drawn to the numerous transportation options near the property.
Rudin handled the deal in-house via Tom Keating. Touro’s Jeffrey Rosengarten brokered the lease in-house along with Richard Bernstein, Steve Braun, Troy Elias and Jared Thal of Cushman & Wakefield.