In order to attract commercial tenants, landlords are cutting rent,
offering incentives and trying to appeal to a wider audience of
businesses. The managers of the Fashion Tower, at 499 Seventh Avenue,
have shed the name of the building and now refer to it by its address
alone, hoping the property won’t be pigeonholed as a single
tenant-type tower. At 650 Madison Avenue, the landlord dropped the
asking rent to $85 per square foot from $100, and broke floors into
smaller office suites. And many companies offering sublease space are
handing over fully furnished offices. Average Manhattan asking rents
are down 11 percent from their peak last year, to $65 a square foot,
but brokers say the amounts that landlords are actually accepting have
plunged by between 25 percent and 30 percent. [more]