From the February issue: The healthy appetite from large tenants for big blocks of space seen in 2010 continued last month, with Hong Kong-based apparel company Li & Fung taking nearly 500,000 square feet in the Empire State Building, amid reports that Nomura Holding America might lease about 600,000 square feet at Worldwide Plaza. The increase in activity, especially in Midtown and Midtown South, has driven asking rents and net effective rents up. It’s also led forecasters to reassess their projections and predict record rental levels in the coming years. But despite that improvement, Downtown still remains a drag on the Manhattan office market, as it has for the past year, brokers said. Leasing volume there significantly trailed other Manhattan markets in 2010. [more]
