Manhattan has almost 94 million square feet of available office space

BY EDDIE SMALL

Spring has not given Manhattan’s office landlords much to cheer about so far, with the available supply in the borough reaching a record high of almost 94 million square feet in April, according to the latest report from Colliers.

Firms leased just 1.5 million square feet of space last month, far below even the monthly average during the pandemic years of 2020, 2021 and 2022, while the availability rate reached 17.4% to match its record from February 2022, the report says. The amount of available office space has shot up by 74.5% since March 2020, when Covid first upended life in the city.

Midtown was the borough’s busiest neighborhood, with about 891,000 square feet of leases, followed by Midtown South at 420,000 and downtown at 184,000, the report says. Activity in all three neighborhoods was down sharply year over year, although leasing in Midtown did increase compared to March.

Manhattan had just two leases for more than 100,000 square feet last month and only one lease between 50,000 and 99,999 square feet, all of which were in Midtown.

HPS renewed and expanded to 160,000 square feet at 40 W. 57th St.; Sheppard Mullin renewed and expanded to 108,000 square feet at 30 Rockefeller Plaza; and ExodusPoint Capital Management renewed and expanded to 75,000 square feet at 65 E. 55th St. The neighborhood’s availability rate was 15.6%, and its average asking rent was $78.74 per square foot.

Midtown South had its slowest month since March 2021. The largest deal in the neighborhood was Claims Conference renewing its 34,000-square-foot lease at 1359 Broadway. Midtown South’s availability rate climbed to a new record of 17.9%, according to the report, sparked by about 1.1 million square feet of available space coming on the market at 261 11th Ave. and 125,000 square feet arriving at Penn 2. The average asking rent actually rose to $81.77 per square foot, also likely due to the space at Penn 2 and 261 11th Ave.

Downtown had its slowest month of the year, and the neighborhood’s average asking rent dropped by 10.8% from March 2020 to hit $58.69 per square foot, the sharpest drop in the three markets. Its largest lease in April was the Brennan Center for Justice renewing 50,000 square feet of space at 120 Broadway. and its availability rate held steady at 20.5%, the report says. ■