David Falk

Newmark kicked off 2025 with a whopping 31 percent year-over-year increase in leasing commissions in the first quarter, attributing much of that $208.1 million in commissions to deals in New York and Boston.

And, looking at its New York-area leasing activity under tri-state region leader David Falk, it’s easy to see why the company gave New York much of the credit.

There’s the 535,000-square-foot lease for law firm Ropes & Gray at 1285 Avenue of the Americas and the 504,466-square-foot deal for Citadel at 660 Fifth Avenue (both of which cracked the top city’s 10 biggest leases of 2024). 

But Newmark’s hits keep on coming: 360,000 square feet for Horizon Media at 75 Varick Street, 315,830 square feet for Willkie Farr & Gallagher at 787 Seventh Avenue, 160,000 square feet for Yeshiva University at 1293-1311 Broadway and 149,447 square feet for Elliott Management at 280 Park Avenue. Need we list more?

Like many of its peers, Newmark saw an excellent pickup in office leasing, and the firm said it brokered nearly 4.7 million square feet of leases in New York City over the past year, and not just on the prime streets.

“The demand is strong enough to be on avenues that, maybe seven years ago, people were questioning,” Falk said. “If the building has a 2025 aesthetic, the demand is there.”

Falk and his team serve as the exclusive leasing agent for more than 28 million square feet of office space around the city, including 1 World Trade Center, 1251 Avenue of the Americas, One Liberty Plaza and 299 Park Avenue, according to Falk’s online biography.

And, even with fears of a recession looming, Falk expects to close out 2025 stronger than last year as tenants don’t seem to be losing their appetite for New York City office space.

“I think people have learned from COVID not to overreact,” Falk said. “ A lot of those employers may have shed space … and then they come back to the office four days and we find out they don’t have enough space.”