Midtown Manhattan office leasing at a high

New York

OFFICE tenants leased the most space in midtown Manhattan this year since 2006, with deals by Evercore and JPMorgan Chase & Co leading the way.

Through the third quarter, rental agreements were signed for 13.9 million square feet, according to a report by CBRE Group. That was the most for the district since the first nine months of 2006, when leases totalled 15.6 million sq ft. Financial companies accounted for 36 per cent of leasing in Midtown, followed by law firms and legal services, with 14 per cent.

Evercore had one of the Q3's largest deals, renewing and expanding its space at 55 East 52nd Street to 343,606 sq ft. JPMorgan Chase followed, with its 270,536 sq ft renewal at 237 Park Avenue. Flexible-space providers also made their mark. WeWork rival Convene had Midtown's fifth-biggest lease, taking 116,430 sq ft at 530 Fifth Avenue.

In Q3, 4.4 million sq ft in deals were signed in Midtown - which stretches from the Hudson to East rivers and roughly from Central Park to as far south as Penn Station and Hudson Yards on the west side and 35th Street on the east side.

The average asking rent in the district was US$78.41 per sq ft, up 2 per cent from the previous quarter. BLOOMBERG