Midtown West development outpaces rest of city: report

Midtown West office building sales rose by more than 100 percent year-over-year in 2011, to $5.7 billion from $1.8 billion in 2010, according to Eastern Consolidated’s MetroGrid Report for Midtown West, released today, which defines Midtown West as the area that extends from 30th to 59th streets, and Fifth Avenue to the Hudson River.

The concentration of overall new development in Midtown West has been unparalleled elsewhere in the city, the report shows, resulting in 35 new residential buildings, 14 new office buildings, 30 new hotels and 10 new retail buildings in the past year.

“Few would have believed that this area would be as viable as it has become,” said Peter Hauspurg, chairman and CEO of Eastern Consolidated. “To see the plethora of residential developments, office, hotels and restaurants is remarkable given that so many avoided this neighborhood 10 years ago.”

In the second quarter alone, 25 office building transactions were completed in Midtown West, as compared to 2010 when only 27 transactions closed. The average price increased to $435 per square foot, the report says, after dropping below $400 per square foot for three years from a peak of $500 per square foot in 2007. — Katherine Clarke