Manhattan Office Vacancy Continues to Climb

As of February, Manhattan’s office vacancy reached 13.1 percent, up 30 basis points month-over-month, according to CommercialEdge.

The metro’s vacancy has expanded by 260 basis points since February 2021, the second largest year-over-year gain among gateway cities after San Francisco, which registered a 400-basis-point increase. Manhattan listing rates have decreased since last year, to reach $83.50.

Manhattan continues to post lower vacancy rates than most primary markets, including Los Angeles (13.3 percent), San Francisco (16.8 percent), Washington, D.C., (16.6 percent) and Chicago (20.3 percent). In February, Miami’s vacancy rate matched Manhattan’s, while Boston remained the gateway city with the lowest rate.

Tribeca (10.5 percent) continues to be one of the submarkets with the lowest vacancy rate in the borough, along with Hudson Square (5.4 percent) and World Trade Center (10.1 percent). At the other end of the spectrum, the Financial District (16.0 percent), Times Square–Hell’s Kitchen (14.8 percent) and the Plaza District (13.4 percent) exceed the market average.

Biggest Manhattan Leases

February’s most notable leases in the New York City metropolitan area included Collector Holdings’ 130,000-square-foot commitment at Harborside 3 in Jersey City, N.J. Veris Residential Inc. is the owner of the 10-story, Class A property, which offers 750,000 square feet of office space. The deal was reportedly the largest office lease in Jersey City since September 2020.

Residential community manager FirstService Residential signed a 48,000-square-foot lease at 575 Fifth Ave. in Midtown Manhattan. Beacon Capital Partners and MetLife are the owners of the 40-story tower that dates back to the 1960s. The new tenant will move its headquarters from its former location at 622 Third Ave.

Also in February, WeWork signed tech firm Contentsquare at its 53 Beach location in Tribeca. The tenant made a 30,000-square-foot, 36-month commitment at the six-story building.

CommercialEdge covers 8M+ property records in the United States. View the latest CommercialEdge national monthly office report here.