Amazon’s West Side deal tops list of Manhattan’s biggest December office leases

NYC’s office leasing scene slowed down quite a bit in December, considering October and November brought in 2.2 million square feet each with their top ten deals made public alone. That didn’t stop Amazon from signing a sizable new lease in Hudson Yards.

The total square footage of December’ top 10 office leases made public comes to 945,500 square feet, a figure which is dwarfed by November’s top lease alone: Facebook taking 1.5 million square feet in Hudson Yards. The total is also a significant step down from that of December 2018, the top ten leases of which totaled 2.65 million square feet.

1) Amazon, 410 Tenth Avenue, Hudson Yards – 335,000 square feet
While not quite HQ2, online retail giant Amazon has committed to more than 300,000 square feet of office space at SL Green Realty’s redevelopment of this Far West Side office building. The new office space will not be receiving the massive tax breaks that had been planned for e-commerce giant’s scrapped Long Island City campus. Derek Trulson, Bill Peters and Josh Stuart of JLL represented the tenant while Brian Waterman, Scott Klau, Brent Ozarowski and Erik Harris of Newmark Knight Frank represented the landlord.

2) Akerman, 1251 Sixth Avenue, Midtown West – 100,000 square feet
The law firm inked a 15-year lease, relocating from 666 Fifth Avenue. Asking rent for the space was $95 per square foot. Other tenants including Mizuho Americas and the International Council of Shopping Centers. Lisa Kiell and Ken Siegel of JLL represented the tenant while David Falk, Peter Shimkin, Nick Berger and Eric Cagner of Newmark Knight Frank represented the landlord, Mitsui Fudosan America.

3) Mazars USA, 135 West 50th Street, Midtown West – 90,000 square feet
The accounting firm signed a 16-year lease. Deborah van der Heyden and Paul Ferraro of JLL represented the tenant while Peter Duncan, Matt Coudert, Andrew Conrad and Alexander Bermingham of George Comfort & Sons represented the landlord in-house.

4) Strategic Financial Solutions, 711 Third Avenue, Grand Central – 82,557 square feet
The financial services firm, which specializes in debt reconsolidation, inked a 10-year lease. The company already occupied space in the building on a separate lease set to expire this year. David Sturner, Jessica Tenenbaum and Joseph Friedman of MHP Real Estate Services represented the tenant while SL Green Realty represented the landlord in-house.

5) Cozen O’Connor, 3 World Trade Center, Financial District – 77,000 square feet
The Philadelphia-based law firm signed a 15-year lease to consolidate its two New York City offices. Arthur Mirante, Michael Gottlieb and Jennifer Ogden of Avison Young represented the tenant while Camille McGratty of Silverstein Properties represented the landlord in-house, alongside a CBRE team of Mary Ann Tighe, Ken Meyerson, Adam Foster, Evan Haskell, Stephen Eynon, David Caperna and Rob Hill.

6) 29Rooms, 25 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg – 64,900 square feet
The pop-up Instagram museum signed a lease at the first ground-up commercial development in Williamsburg in more than four decades. AES NYC represented the tenant while Jaime Schultz, Jeffrey Lopez, Greg Tannor and Brad Schwarz of Lee & Associates NYC represented the landlords, Rubenstein Partners and Heritage Equities Partners.

7) Kith, 25 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg – 58,000 square feet
For its second appearance on this list, 25 Kent locked down a new lease with fashion brand Kith. The company will become the first tenant in the new Williamsburg development, which at one point had been pitched as a possible second headquarters for Amazon.

8) Squarespace, 225 Varick Street, Soho – 50,000 square feet
The website-building service expanded its lease and got $2 million in state tax incentives for its trouble. The new lease brings the company’s presence in the building to almost 200,000 square feet. The building’s landlords are Trinity Real Estate, Norges Bank Real Estate Management and Hines.

9) Greenberg Traurig, 420 Lexington Avenue, Grand Central – 46,744 square feet
The law firm signed a 15-year lease at the Graybar Building. The building’s landlord is SL Green Realty, who announced the deal in a press release detailing 1.2 million square feet in leases secured in the last quarter of 2019. Greenberg Traurig is moving its main offices into SL Green’s One Vanderbilt development.

10) Next Jump, 512 West 22nd Street, Chelsea – 41,300 square feet
The loyalty-rewards company inked a lease for the top three stories of the boutique office development, where it will be paying nearly $160 per square foot. The building’s landlord is Vornado Realty Trust.