The number of Midtown Manhattan buildings with contiguous office space vacancies has surpassed that at the peak of the 2009 recession, according to Savills Studley data.
Thirty-five blocks of more than 150,000 square feet of contiguous Midtown space were on the market by late June. Five years ago, there were 31 blocks in the neighborhood. Vacancies are expected to increase in 2015 as many office tenants are consolidating space, Keith DeCoster of Savills Studley told Bloomberg News.
“The epicenter of this city has shifted several times before and is in the process of shifting again,” Michael Cohen of brokerage Colliers International told the publication.
Media giants such as Conde Nast Publications and Time Inc. are in the process of relocating to Lower Manhattan from Midtown. Rockefeller Group is among the landlords taking advantage of the Midtown vacancies and renovating those spaces — in the Time & Life building for example. [Bloomberg News] — Mark Maurer