New batch of Manhattan office towers competing for elite tenants

With millions of square feet in new office space hitting the market over the next few years, new developments are finding themselves in heated competition to land a handful of elite tenants.

Law firm Cravath Swaine & Moore, whose current 600,000-square foot lease at Worldwide Plaza is up in 2024, is considering a move to one of five new office developments in Manhattan, the New York Post reported.

Those buildings include Brookfield’s Two Manhattan West, the Related Companies’ 50 Hudson Yards, Tishman Speyer’s the Spiral, SL Green Realty’s One Vanderbilt, and Silverstein Properties’ Three World Trade Center. The firm could also opt to remain at its current location at 825 Eighth Ave, where it has been since 1989.

“They’re in a great position to wrestle the best terms from among six different landlords who’d kill to get them or keep them,” one source told the Post.

Cravath Swaine may have most leverage at Two Manhattan West, which Brookfield has decided to move forward on without first securing a single tenant for its 1.9 million square feet of available space. Its four competitors each have at least 1.5 million square feet left to fill as well.

Despite the competition, Cravath’s new space is unlikely to come cheaply, with asking rents at some of the towers hitting three digits per square foot. [NYP] — Kevin Sun