Brookfield lures Spanish bank to Two Manhattan West

Brookfield Properties landed a new tenant, Spanish bank BBVA, for its new office building between Penn Station and Hudson Yards.

The bank signed a lease for 74,000 square feet at Two Manhattan West, according to a press release. The Madrid-based financial services firm is saying adios to Fisher Brothers’ 1345 Sixth Avenue, where it occupied 42,000 square feet, the New York Post reported.

Details of the lease, including asking rent and duration, were not disclosed. The bank expects to relocate its U.S. headquarters to the eighth and ninth floors of the 1.9-million-square-foot tower at 401 West 31st Street by the end of next year.

Brookfield was represented in-house by a team including Duncan McCuaig and Mikael Nahmias, according to the Commercial Observer, while JLL’s Joseph Messina and Cushman & Wakefield’s Paul Ferraro represented the tenant.

Brookfield is still a couple of months from opening Two Manhattan West, but the property is more than 80 percent leased. Tenants include Crowell & Moring, D.E. Shaw, KPMG, Clifford Chance and Cravath Swaine & Moore.

The 58-story property has been held up as an example of a modern office that can attract tenants in an era of remote and hybrid work. Amenities include a 3,200-square-foot landscaped terrace, bike storage, conference centers and a fitness and wellness center. It sources all of its electricity from upstate hydropower.

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A jump in Manhattan office leasing? The numbers deceive

The building that BBVA is leaving, 1345 Sixth Avenue, is hardly antiquated. Fisher Brothers made improvements to the property two years ago, investing $120 million to update the exterior, add an amenity floor and install art.

Manhattan leasing activity increased 26 percent from the second quarter to the third, according to a report from Colliers. Two leases accounted for more than a fifth of the jump in leasing activity: Davis Polk and Wardwell signed a 710,000-square-foot extension and expansion at 450 Lexington Avenue, while the city leased 641,000 square feet at 110 William Street.

Manhattan’s availability rate remained at a record high of 19.4 percent.