Days of $100 per square foot are over

The number of new Manhattan leases with rents of at least $100 per square foot is shrinking, the New York Observer reported. The companies that pay those kinds of rents, such as hedge funds and private equity firms, are no longer looking for space. The decline in rent rates could be a problem for the city’s growth, said Scott Latham, executive director at Cushman & Wakefield, because rents of at least $100 per square foot are needed to justify construction costs.