Asking rents for Manhattan office space remain muted even as tenants have
inked deals for more space over the past six months than any time in more than
a decade.
For all types of Manhattan office buildings, average asking rents were up only
2 percent in the second quarter of 2011 compared with the same period a year
ago, or $1.21 per square foot to $55.52 per square foot, figures released by
Cushman & Wakefield today at its quarterly media briefing in Midtown, show. [more]

From the January issue: They are not easily recognizable, but they are out there all around us, on the streets of Midtown and Lower Manhattan.
They are a growing breed of office towers, not quite alive but not
entirely dead either. They are New York’s City’s zombie buildings. And
within the commercial real estate world, once a building is tagged as a
problem site, it has a difficult time shaking off the negative label,
attracting tenants and finding rental income to nurse itself back to
health.
“It is a super-slow-motion thing that is occurring,” said Glenn
Markman, a commercial broker for Cushman & Wakefield, explaining
the vicious cycle that many Manhattan buildings have gotten stuck in
since the start of the downturn. more

From the September issue: Property listing spam is a fact of life in real estate. Like the swallows of Capistrano, flocks of all-capped, too-good-to-be-true e-mails arrive in brokers’ inboxes in predictable cycles: “MUST SEE!!!” and “SPACIOUS, MODERN,” they scream in the subject line.
But as the commercial real estate market continues its downward slide, some in the business say the number of e-mails from brokers promoting their properties have reached a new level. And some firms are now restricting the number of times brokers can press send. [more]

Each and every day, the press provides information on companies leasing
office space in Manhattan. The articles provide the asking rent for
space, but fail to provide the reader with the most important
information in the minds of those seeking office space: actual rent,
concessions and the other terms and conditions of the new lease. “Rental rates have come down, and once again New York City is
affordable for commercial tenants,” said Glenn Markman, executive vice
president at Cushman & Wakefield. “A tenant who is in a position to
sign a lease will look back five years from today and realize that they
‘hit the market at the right time.’” Comments