Manhattan’s Office Market Turned a Corner in 2025

Caution defined Manhattan’s office market for much of the post-pandemic period.

Tenants were still signing deals, but the long-term, six- and seven-figure square-footage commitments that once defined the city all but disappeared.

But mega-deals made a comeback in 2025.

Two transactions captured that shift more clearly than any others. NYU’s 1.1 million-square-foot master lease at Vornado Realty Trust’s 770 Broadway, and Jane Street’s expansion to roughly 1 million square feet at Brookfield Properties’ 250 Vesey Street showed that some of the market’s biggest tenants were ready to make long-term commitments to Manhattan office space again.

NYU made a $935 million upfront payment on a 70-year lease and plans to convert long-vacant floors into labs, classrooms and workspaces. It was the largest new office lease in Manhattan since 2019 and a reminder that institutional tenants with long time horizons can play a stabilizing role in a volatile market.

Jane Street’s growth at Brookfield Place told a similar story from a different angle. The trading firm has expanded steadily at 250 Vesey Street for a decade, ultimately reaching a scale that required Brookfield to relocate its own corporate offices.

Together, the NYU and Jane Street deals accounted for more than 2 million square feet of leasing. They also reinforced a theme that repeated itself throughout the year as tenants with leverage and long-term conviction consolidated into marquee buildings and doubled down on New York.

That momentum extended well beyond those two deals.

Deloitte agreed to lease about 800,000 square feet at Related Companies’ planned 70 Hudson Yards tower, anchoring what will be the largest ground-up office development to start construction in the U.S. since the pandemic. Citadel signed on for more than 500,000 square feet at Brookfield’s redeveloped 660 Fifth Avenue, while also committing to be the anchor tenant at the planned 350 Park Avenue redevelopment. Bloomberg extended its stay at 120 Park Avenue; Universal Music Group committed to Penn Plaza; and Amazon added space near Bryant Park and Midtown South.

By the fall, the impact was showing up in the data.

Manhattan leasing activity reached 30.05 million square feet in the first nine months of the year, the highest year-to-date total since 2002, according to Colliers. If December closed as expected, the borough would finish the year above a threshold it had not reached since 2019.

That activity began chipping away at the overhang left by the pandemic.

Availability dropped to 14.2 percent by December, the lowest level since late 2020, while sublet inventory continued to unwind after more than a year of steady declines. The divide between top-tier buildings and the rest of the market is still wide, but the trajectory is becoming clearer.

Outside Manhattan, the same bifurcation showed up in different ways. In South Florida, Stephen Ross’ West Palm Beach portfolio dominated leasing as financial firms clustered around a growing downtown ecosystem. Los Angeles saw major renewals and relocations in healthier submarkets like Century City and Pasadena, even as downtown continued to struggle. In Dallas-Fort Worth, suburban campuses carried the year, accounting for the bulk of the region’s largest leases.

Vacancy is elevated in many markets, and not every building is participating in the rebound. Still, 2025 marked a shift, with Manhattan once again setting the pace.

Real estate stayed busy in the last week of the year.

Jeff Sutton is pushing back against Helaba’s foreclosure attempt on his Herald Square retail property; Walker & Dunlop faces $100 million in potential mortgage fraud losses; and Leo Pustilnikov defaults on a Third Street Promenade loan.

Jeff Sutton fires back against lender over Herald Square foreclosure

Jeff Sutton is escalating his legal battle with German bank Helaba, accusing the lender of launching a “transparent, orchestrated attempt” to damage his reputation through a foreclosure on a Herald Square retail property. Helaba sued in September to foreclose on the three-story property at 27–29 West 34th Street, citing a default tied to more than $12 million in unpaid real estate taxes on a $50 million loan originated in 2018.

Walker & Dunlop reports $100M exposure to mortgage fraud

Walker & Dunlop disclosed a potential $100 million exposure after Freddie Mac asked the firm to repurchase two loan portfolios tied to borrower-submitted fraudulent documentation. The lender entered forbearance on one portfolio and expects to do the same on a second $49.3 million tranche, while placing some originators on leave and hiring outside counsel to probe suspect transactions.

Leo Pustilnikov defaults on Third Street Promenade loan

Builder’s remedy advocate Leo Pustilnikov has defaulted on a $37.5 million loan tied to a retail building on Santa Monica’s struggling Third Street Promenade. Entities linked to Pustilnikov, Ely Dromy and Eli Taban are past due on about $39 million as of early November, according to Los Angeles County records.

Apartment at Naftali’s 1045 Madison rents for $95K

A rental at Naftali Group’s Upper East Side condo The Benson raised the bar, leasing for $95,000 a month, or $288 per square foot per year, one of the highest figures ever recorded for a standard one-year lease in New York City. The nearly 4,000-square-foot, five-bedroom unit at 1045 Madison Avenue was listed by Douglas Elliman and rented by a tenant represented by Serhant, underscoring how aggressive demand has become at the very top of the market.

Francis Suarez buys $7M home near South Miami

Just days after leaving office, former Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and his wife, Gloria, paid $7.4 million for a newly built home near South Miami, marking one of the priciest non-waterfront sales in the area. The couple financed the 6,700-square-foot, six-bedroom property with a $4.4 million Bank of America mortgage, as Suarez’s net worth climbed from about $400,000 in 2018 to more than $5 million during his eight-year mayoral tenure.

Vornado never reported any fraud to SEC, says former exec charged with fraud

Former Vornado executive Jared Solomon, charged with stealing over $9.5 million, is seeking to block prosecutors from using evidence alleging he committed “material fraud,” arguing that Vornado never reported any wrongdoing to regulators or auditors. Solomon’s attorneys contend that the publicly traded REIT certified accurate financial statements for two years after discovering the alleged crime, meaning the government cannot treat Vornado as both a blameless victim and a company filing false reports.

Not so fast! Cirrus’ $77M winning bid for downtown Miami site in dispute

Brazilian developer Gilberto Bomeny is challenging Cirrus Real Estate’s $77 million winning bid for his distressed downtown Miami site at 340 Biscayne Boulevard, alleging auction irregularities shut out other potential bidders. Bomeny claims last-minute time changes, technical issues and poor communication during the Dec. 17 Sotheby’s Concierge Auctions sale prevented rivals from participating, including at least one bidder who allegedly would have offered nearly double Cirrus’ price.

Summit makes $450M offer for Joel Wiener’s bankrupt buildings

Summit Properties USA has placed a $451 million stalking-horse bid for Joel Wiener’s bankrupt Pinnacle portfolio, which includes 5,100 largely rent-stabilized units, ahead of a Jan. 8 auction. The purchase price could drop to $420 million if acquisition financing from existing lender Flagstar Bank doesn’t materialize, while the bankrupt entities cite high interest rates, inflation, weak collections and tenant-friendly laws for their financial struggles.

Landlord claims Jon Venetos on hook personally for $5.3M over Uptown office lease

Dallas landlord Rosewood Property Company is suing Lurin Capital founder Jon Venetos, claiming he is personally on the hook for $5.3 million after allegedly defaulting on an Uptown Dallas office lease. The suit says Lurin expanded its space at Rosewood Court to 6,425 square feet under a lease running through 2035, with rent escalating from $46 to $60 per square foot, before payments became sporadic in mid-2024 and stopped entirely in June 2025.