Barclays eyes big move to Hudson Yards

Barclays is eyeing a big move to Hudson Yards.

The London-based bank is considering moving its U.S. headquarters to the Far West Side megadevelopment from its current location in Times Square, Bloomberg reported.

Barclays is looking to lease around 500,000 square feet. The bank is currently headquartered at the former Lehman Brothers building at 747 Seventh Avenue, which it acquired in a deal to buy part of the investment bank’s U.S. operations in 2008.

“I think this provides another data point that fears of the demise of Manhattan office buildings may be overblown,” said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jeffrey Langbaum.

A spokesperson for Barclays declined to comment to Bloomberg.

Leasing activity has dropped off dramatically this year. Tenants inked just a little more than 3 million square feet of Manhattan office space in the second quarter — the lowest figure since 2009.

There have been some signs, though, that companies aren’t abandoning their offices. Facebook recently finalized a lease for 730,000 square feet at the Farley Building that the tech company began negotiating before the pandemic.

Facebook last year leased about 1.5 million square feet at Hudson Yards. [Bloomberg] — Rich Bockmann