By autumn, it became pretty clear that 2025 would be a banner year in New York City office leasing, hitting or exceeding pre-pandemic numbers.
Top-shelf Class A space was setting much of the leasing pace — and becoming a rare commodity in the process. And the tenant mix was diverse, or at least more diverse than in previous eras, as technology companies mingled with financial houses and law firms. Plus, the forms of the deals themselves were diverse: expansions, renewals (with expansions), new leases, etc.
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Brokerages were predicting that by the end of 2025 leasing would not only exceed 2019’s pre-COVID levels, but would also beat the modern record set in 2014. Manhattan recorded 10.6 million square feet of office space leased in the third quarter, bringing the total for the first nine months of the year to 31.7 million square feet, according to Savills.
Whether New York City will see another humongous lease deal before ringing in the New Year is anybody’s guess (unless some brokers want to chime in). Until then, these are the biggest office-leasing deals signed in 2025 as tracked by Cushman & Wakefield and CBRE and checked against Commercial Observer’s reporting.
New York University
1.07 million square feet
770 Broadway (master lease)
New York University in May took over management of Vornado Realty Trust’s 770 Broadway after signing a master lease with the owner spanning more than 1.07 million square feet for a total of 70 years. The lease had been in negotiations for several months.
Moreover, Vornado got some of its money upfront. NYU prepaid $935 million for the master lease, and agreed to an annual payment of $9.3 million after assuming income from existing office leases at the property, according to Vornado.
NYU will have the option to buy the building from the real estate investment trust in 2055 and at the end of the lease term in 2095. Stay tuned.
Jane Street Capital
1 million square feet
250 Vesey Street (expansion)
Jane Street Capital again showed that it likes what it sees at Brookfield Place, initially leasing 140,000 square feet at 250 Vesey Street in 2024 before expanding to 600,000 square feet and then hitting the 1 million square foot mark in February 2025.
The firm, which focuses on exchange-traded funds, had been shopping around for a new office and was considering Brookfield’s neighboring 300 Vesey Street. But the landlord decided to make things easy for them, giving up some of its own space at 250 Vesey so Jane Street could grow in place.
Brookfield handled the deal in-house via Duncan McCuaig, Mikael Nahmias, Hayley Shoener and Dan Roberts, while Rob Lowe, Augustus Field and Jon Herman of Cushman & Wakefield represented Jane Street. The expansion was described at the time as “long term.”
Deloitte
800,000 square feet
70 Hudson Yards (new lease)
While the deal was in the works long before Related Companies and Oxford Properties started construction this spring on the 1.1 million-square-foot office tower, Deloitte made it official in April: The accounting giant would migrate from its current offices at 30 Rockefeller Plaza to Hudson Yards, making it the largest new lease of 2025.
The 60-story 70 Hudson Yards is due to include amenities such as private dining rooms, a podcast studio, and red-eye suites for folks returning from long flights. It will not, however, include a casino. The developers and partner Wynn failed to win one of the downstate New York gaming licenses that was up for grabs this year.
The brokers on the deal and the length of the lease were unclear.
Citadel
504,000 square feet
660 Fifth Avenue (new lease)
Financial services firm Citadel decided it would need a roof over its head while it waits for Vornado Realty Trust and Rudin to finish its new headquarters at 350 Park Avenue in 2032.
While the space won’t be as large as the 850,000 square feet it expects at 350 Park, Citadel will occupy 504,000 square feet in the Brookfield Properties-owned building for the time being and vacate the space it currently has at the old 350 Park.
Its affiliate, Citadel Securities, also has a 440,000-square-foot office nearby at L&L Holding Company’s 425 Park Avenue.
It’s unclear who brokered the deal at 660 Fifth.
Millennium Management
399 Park Avenue
438,000 square feet (extension)
Alternative investment firm Millennium Management extended its lease deal for 438,000 square feet at BXP's 399 Park Avenue in November, but the details of its extension remain unclear.
Millennium relocated from 660 Fifth Avenue to the building in 2018, when it leased 300,000 square feet on four full floors of the 41-story tower between East 53rd and East 54th streets.
The deal flew in below the radar, in a report from Colliers covering November alone and a BXP report on the third quarter, and it’s unclear exactly when the deal was signed, the terms or who the brokers were.
United Nations Association
2 United Nations Plaza
425,190 square feet (new lease)
In June, the United Nations Association inked a deal for 425,190 square feet across 26 stories at 2 United Nations Plaza and two stories of retail at 2 United Nations Plaza, consolidating its operations within the Midtown East campus.
Newmark’s Jim Saunders and Jason Perla represented the U.N., while CBRE’s Scott Gottlieb represented the landlord, United Nations Development Corporation, a public benefit corporation established by New York State.
The deal followed the announcement that United Nations Plaza would get $500 million for a redevelopment intended to modernize the buildings. The project is expected to create more than 1,800 construction jobs.
Horizon Media
75 Varick Street
360,000 square feet (extension)
Horizon Media decided it likes Hudson Square so much that in March it extended its 360,000-square-foot space at 75 Varick Street for 17 years.
The tenant occupies six floors of the 18-story building owned by Hudson Square Properties, a partnership between Trinity Church NYC, Norges Bank Investment Management and Hines.
Newmark’s David Falk and Peter Shimkin negotiated on behalf of Hudson Square Properties while Moshe Sukenik and Chris Mongeluzo, also from Newmark, handled the deal for the tenant.
Guggenheim Partners
330 Madison Avenue
360,000 square feet (expansion)
Global investment and advisory firm Guggenheim Partners in September renewed its lease at 330 Madison Avenue for 17 years, expanding from 240,000 square feet to 360,000 square feet.
The tenant has been in the building since 2013, and had originally moved into a smattering of 186,000 square feet across various floors.
JLL’s Frank Doyle, David Kleiner and Carlee Palmer represented the building’s owner, Munich Re. Savills’ Peter Hennessy and Bradford Allen’s Ben Azulay represented Guggenheim in the deal.
Salesforce
1095 Avenue of the Americas
349,515 square feet (expansion)
Cloud-based software company Salesforce tacked on 71,000 square feet to its existing footprint in the Salesforce Tower New York, also known as 1095 Avenue of the Americas, extending for 15 years a 349,515-square-foot footprint.
Salesforce plans to use the space in the building owned by the global investment group La Caisse and managed by Hines to develop products that will “help prepare Salesforce’s more than 3,000 local employees for the agentic AI era,” according to the company. The company has an AI operation called Agentforce.
CBRE represented both Salesforce and La Caisse in the deal.
Amazon
452 Fifth Avenue
344,000 square feet (new lease)
Amazon again made another big headline in April when it signed a lease deal for 330,000 square feet at the Property & Building Corporation-owned 10 Bryant Park, also known as 452 Fifth Avenue.
The space won’t be cheap for Amazon.
The 15-year lease will run Amazon $29.5 million annually in rent for the first five years, going up to $32.2 million per year after that and eventually hitting $34.8 million.
A JLL team led by Paul Glickman and Ben Bass negotiated on behalf of the tenant.
