Manhattan’s Priciest Office Space Hit Another Record for Leasing Activity in 2024

Last year was a red-letter year for Manhattan’s office landlords with leasing activity closer to pre-pandemic numbers, and the borough’s priciest spaces also hit a record number of leases in 2024.

Tenants signed some 212 leases charging $100 or more per square foot totaling 9.8 million square feet in 2024, according to a report from JLL (JLL). Additionally, there were 28 leases costing at least $200 per square foot covering 591,000 square feet of space — almost triple that of 2023.

Wall Street came out on top for pricey leases with 64 percent of all top-tier deals, JLL found. Wall Street and the financial services industry saw 12 of the year’s top 20 largest deals.

“New York City’s long-standing dependence on the financial services industry, thought to have faded with the growth of technology, reasserted itself in dramatic fashion in 2024,” JLL’s Cynthia Wasserberger, who co-authored the report with Carlee Palmer and Margaux Kelleher, said in a statement. 

“The resurgence of Wall Street resulted in significant hiring, office leasing vitality and much-anticipated company expansions,” Wasserberger continued, “while also creating a multiplier effect which favorably impacted growth in legal, consulting, real estate, insurance and other service firms.” 

RFR’s The Seagram Building at 375 Park Avenue led the pack in the number of $100-plus deals from a single building, with 12 of those deals in 2024, nine of which were $200 or more per square foot, JLL noted. 

Half of those deals were renewals or relocations within the building. Blue Owl Capital, Advent International and Churchill Asset Management instead inked new deals at 375 Park Avenue in 2024 in that over $200 per square foot range.

“When we peel back on the $200-plus market, people aren’t blinking at these rents anymore,” Wasserberger told The New York Post, which first reported the data. “We saw nearly 600,000 square feet of them [last year].”

New York City’s fourth-largest commercial office tower, 50 Hudson Yards, took second place with 11 pricey deals in 2024, according to the JLL analysis. Vornado Realty Trust (VNO)’s 1 Penn Plaza saw nine such leases last year. 

The shift in return-to-office patterns throughout the city played a part in the need for new leases, JLL found. Indeed, 56 percent of Manhattan corporate employees are in the office on an average weekday, according to data from The Partnership for New York City. Some 38 percent of Manhattan office workers go into the workplace at least three days a week.

“New York City’s return-to-office metrics are the highest in the nation, indicating that work-from-home dynamics have shifted,” Wasserberger said in the statement. “Even many technology and creative-driven firms finally solidified in-office versus remote working standards, with a strong preference for increasing productivity through in-person collaboration and accountability.”

Amanda Schiavo can be reached at aschiavo@commercialobserver.com.