Steven Roth

A recent report from Cushman & Wakefield showed that, from 2023 through 2025, almost a quarter of all Manhattan office relocations landed in the neighborhood around Pennsylvania Station, with most of those tenants expanding their space.

In a display of just how dominant Vornado Realty Trust is becoming in the Penn Station area, its Penn 1 and Penn 2 office towers led this local success, and Vornado has also announced plans to redevelop the entire retail corridor on Seventh Avenue between 33rd and 34th streets.

The company had its best leasing year in over a decade in 2025 with 4.6 million square feet of office space leased, including 3.7 million square feet in Manhattan. This included New York University’s 70-year master lease for 1,076,000 square feet at 770 Broadway, as well as Universal Music Group’s 22-year deal for 336,000 square feet and Verizon’s 10-year deal for 203,000 square feet at Penn 2, where the average starting rent was $109 per square foot.

On the development side, the company, under Steven Roth’s guidance, completed the 232,000-square-foot Sunset Pier 94 Studios on Manhattan’s West Side in January 2026, in a joint venture with Hudson Pacific Properties and Blackstone Real Estate. Its space is fully leased to Paramount and Netflix.   

Upcoming development projects for Vornado include the 1.85 million-square-foot 350 Park Avenue, with Citadel likely serving as the anchor tenant and construction starting this spring. (Citadel’s Ken Griffin is for now a 60 percent partner in the project and Rudin also has a share.) Vornado will also be breaking ground on a 475-unit rental building at 34th Street and Eighth Avenue later this year.

The company also had no shortage of landscape-shifting transactions in the past year, including acquiring 623 Fifth Avenue for $218 million and completing the sale of Uniqlo’s flagship location at 666 Fifth Avenue to the retailer for $350 million.    

Vornado’s success in the Penn District has led to an undeniably optimistic outlook from Roth regarding the market, according to his Chairman’s Letter in the company’s 2025 Annual Report

“We are the largest owner in the Penn District with 9 million square feet,” writes Roth. “The Penn District’s time has come.”