One-fifth of Lower Manhattan office properties remains closed

More than one-fifth of Office Space Below Canal Street remains closed in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, according to a tally released today by Jones Lang LaSalle research. Out of 183 Class A and Class B buildings, 25 are shuttered three weeks on. Thus, some 20.7 million square feet of office space downtown are closed to tenants.

Total inventory of Lower Manhattan Class A and Class B office properties totals 101.2 million square feet.

The percentage of closed buildings has been decreasing since Nov. 5. On that date, JLL research tallied that 34.6 percent of properties were closed; two days later, the percentage was lowered to 32.8 percent. On Nov. 12, 28.8 percent remained closed.

Jones Lang LaSalle would not disclose which buildings have been or continue to be part of the count.

As previously reported, getting an accurate assessment of Lower Manhattan office space damage has been made difficult by major landlords declining to answer questions regarding the status of their properties.

A closed Lower Manhattan property, according to previous press reports, includes New York Plaza, a 1 million-square-foot property that’s home to the New York Daily News. The building could be closed for a year. — Zachary Kussin