On a budget? Skip the Plaza district.
The tony neighborhood defended its unofficial title as the city’s most expensive office market in 2016, despite growing competition from Hudson Yards. According to JLL, 1.336 million square feet of office space in the district were leased at $100 per square foot or more in 2016. That’s more than half of the citywide $100-plus leasing activity, which totaled 2.2 million square feet.
The 107 leases signed above the $100 threshold marked a slight drop from 2015, when 138 were signed, but is still above the 2014 total of 97, the New York Post reported.
Despite encouraging leasing data, the Plaza district has been struggling to retain some major tenants amid growing competition from new developments downtown and on the Far West Side. In December, asset manager BlackRock [TRDataCustom] signed a deal to move from its 52nd Street home to Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group’s 50 Hudson Yards.
According to JLL, the vacancy rate for Midtown trophy office space rose from 7 to 8.8 percent in 2016, while the average asking rent rose from $103.61 to $104.41. [NYP] — Konrad Putzier