Top 10 Office Deliveries of 2020

Despite the economic headwinds the office sector is facing, developers are largely moving forward with major and minor projects across the country. While CommercialEdge shows office deliveries totaled 81.5 million square feet in 2020, marking a 14.2 percent drop compared to the previous year, much of the decline can be attributed to industrywide construction delays, with planned completions early in the year expected to make up the difference.

Utilizing CommercialEdge data, our list of the 10 largest deliveries in 2020 include projects in a diverse set of metros from coast to coast and even involve major completions in secondary and tertiary markets such as Minneapolis and Buffalo, N.Y. Combined, these 10 developments accounted for 13.4 percent of newly completed office space in the past year.

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Rank	Project Name	Location	Owner	Total Square Feet
1	One Vanderbilt	Manhattan	SL Green, Hines	1,755,814
2	110 North Wacker	Chicago	The Howard Hughes Corp., Riverside Investment & Development	1,565,909
3	Seneca One Tower	Buffalo, N.Y.	Douglas Development	1,348,964
4	The JACX	Queens	Tishman Speyer, Qatari Diar	1,200,000
5	The Dayton’s Project	Minneapolis	The 601W Cos., The Telos Group, United Properties	1,050,000
6	Rufus 2.0 – Block 21	Seattle	Amazon	888,049
7	The Wheeler	Brooklyn	Tishman Speyer, HNA Group	844,378
8	KPMG Lakehouse	Orlando, Fla.	KPMG	780,000
9	167 Green Street	Chicago	Shapack Partners	750,023
10	The David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care	Manhattan	Memorial Sloan Kettering	750,000

 

10. The David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care, Manhattan

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s January delivery of its 750,000-square-foot facility at 530 E. 74th St. in Manhattan’s Upper East Side marked the 10th largest office completion in 2020 and the second biggest in the borough. The project broke ground in mid-2015 and was named for late businessman and political activist David Koch, who donated $150 million toward construction.

9. 167 Green Street, Chicago

In December, Shapack Partners opened the largest office property in Chicago’s Fulton Market, 167 Green St. The development kicked off in early 2019, backed with a $196.2 million construction loan from Otera Capital. Prior to completion, the 17-story building had two major lease commitments from WeWork and CCC Information Services totaling 265,000 square feet. Local developer Shapack has focused exclusively on projects in Fulton Market in recent years, delivering a 70,000-square-foot Class A project in 2018.

8. KPMG Lakehouse, Orlando, Fla.

At the start of 2020, KPMG finished work on its Lakehouse facility in Orlando, Fla. Encompassing 780,000 square feet, the building is the largest office property in the metro. Designed by Gensler and built by DPR Construction, the development earned LEED Silver certification in August 2019. In addition to its office component, the property includes 800 guestrooms, 15,000 square feet of amenity space and some 350,000 square feet of training facilities.

7. The Wheeler, Brooklyn

Tishman Speyer’s February completion of The Wheeler in Brooklyn adds another chapter in the life of two buildings dating back to the 1870s and 1930, home to the historic Brooklyn Macy’s department store. The developer partnered with HNA Group and Macy’s to convert and expand the existing structures into 844,378 square feet, 620,000 of which are dedicated for office use. In February 2019, The Whittle School signed a 20-year lease to occupy all of the office floors.

6. Rufus 2.0 – Block 21, Seattle

Even as the e-commerce giant’s HQ2 expansion in Arlington, Va., has garnered the most attention, Amazon is still building up its presence in its hometown of Seattle. Following more than two years of construction, work on two new buildings in the Denny Triangle wrapped up in November. Occupying a full block at 2200 Seventh Ave., the structures rise eight and 24 stories, with some 35,000 square feet of retail space at the property’s base atop an 835-stall underground parking garage.

5. The Dayton’s Project, Minneapolis

The second adaptive reuse project on our list, the 1.1 million-square-foot Dayton’s Project in downtown Minneapolis delivered this past summer. A partnership between The 601W Cos., The Telos Group and United Properties began work on the former Dayton’s department store building at 700 Nicollet Mall in October 2017, backed by $145.6 million in construction financing from JPMorgan Chase. The structure, which dates back to 1903, has a modern amenity package including a 10,000-square-foot fitness center, a library, a rooftop terrace and approximately 200,000 square feet of retail space.

4. The JACX, Queens

Tishman Speyer’s and Qatari Diar’s 1.2 million-square-foot January delivery of The JACX accounted for nearly three-quarters of office inventory added in Queens last year. The two 26-story towers make up one of the market’s largest assets by far, second only to Savanna’s 1.5 million-square-foot One Court Square. The JACX broke ground at 28-07 Jackson Ave. in Long Island City, N.Y., in early 2017, with Bank OZK providing $275 million in construction financing. The completed property’s tenants include WeWork and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and amenities range from a 1-acre rooftop park to 50,000 square feet of retail space.

3. Seneca One Tower, Buffalo, N.Y.

Douglas Development’s redevelopment of the nearly 1.4 million-square-foot Seneca One Tower in Buffalo, N.Y., wrapped up in February, breathing life into the city’s tallest building. Douglas bought the nearly 50-year-old high-rise in 2016, one year after LNR Partners had taken ownership of the asset in a foreclosure action. M&T Bank has leased 330,000 square feet within the tower, with other tenants including Serendipity Labs and Odoo. In addition to its office component, Seneca One also has 300 residential units, 75,270 square feet of retail space and a parking garage.

2. 110 North Wacker, Chicago

The second-largest delivery of 2020 was the 1.6 million-square-foot 110 North Wacker redevelopment in downtown Chicago. The Howard Hughes Corp. partnered with Riverside Investment & Development on the 55-story skyscraper, which replaced a six-story office property dating back to 1956. Prior to groundbreaking in mid-2018, Bank of America signed a 523,000-square-foot anchor lease, additionally financing the project with a $558.9 million construction loan. Floor plates range from 26,000 to 30,000 square feet, and property amenities include conference rooms, on-site dry cleaning service, valet parking and 19,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor.

1. One Vanderbilt, Manhattan

The long-awaited, nearly 1.8 million-square-foot One Vanderbilt in Midtown Manhattan marks the largest office delivery of 2020. Development partners SL Green and Hines opened the 77-story tower in September, following close to four years of construction. Wells Fargo provided $1.5 billion in financing for the development of the $3.3 billion high-rise. The building was 70 percent leased at completion, with notable tenants including TD Bank and TD Securities, The Carlyle Group and McDermott Will & Emery.