Manhattan’s Largest Office Leases of 2024

Given the post-Covid surge in remote work and interest rates, Manhattan’s office market had an encouraging 2024, led by Midtown, which is set to have its busiest leasing year since 2018, according to Colliers.

The fears that New Yorkers would flock to a capitalist utopia in Florida and that Gotham would become an urban hellscape turned out to be false. The data show people like working in New York, preferably in an office with snacks and spiffy bathrooms as opposed to a drafty, dim one-bedroom in Hell’s Kitchen.

The Manhattan office market’s leasing uptick was powered by three mega-deals each totaling close to a million square feet. Office brokers all say that next year will be the year. To be sure, brokers say that every year, but fundamentals are indeed improving heading into 2025.

Here were the five largest office leases in Manhattan in 2024.

Blackstone Group | 345 Park Avenue | 969,957 sf

Blackstone scored the largest lease of 2024 with its 969,957-square-foot deal at 345 Park Avenue. The investment giant agreed to extend its lease with Rudin Management. Blackstone is expanding its office footprint at the building by 30 percent. The lease, brokered by JLL, runs to 2034.

Bloomberg | 731 Lexington Avenue | 946,815 sf

Bloomberg had two massive leases in 2024. The media company extended its 946,815-square-foot lease at 731 Lexington Avenue until 2040. The building is home to Bloomberg’s headquarters and 7,000 of its 12,000 New York-based employees. The lease, brokered by CBRE, helped Alexander’s complete a $400 million refinancing of the office portion of the tower in September.

Bloomberg | 919 Third Avenue | 924,876 sf

Bloomberg apparently needs a lot of space. The company signed a lease to expand its footprint at SL Green’s 919 Third Avenue to nearly 925,000 square feet. Since 2021, the firm has leased 749,035 square feet at the property. CBRE brokered the deal.

Ropes & Gray | 1285 Sixth Avenue | 535,000 sf

Ropes & Gray inked a 535,000-square-foot lease at RXR’s 1285 Sixth Avenue. Cushman & Wakefield and Newmark brokered the deal. The law firm will move from Ivanhoe Cambridge’s 1211 Sixth Avenue where it occupied 300,000 square feet. Ropes & Gray is taking space from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, which moved to Fisher Brothers’ 1345 Sixth Avenue.

Apple | 11 Penn Plaza | 460,000 sf

In November, Apple expanded its lease by 61,000 square feet in Vornado Realty Trust’s Penn 11. The deal brings its total office footprint in the 26-story, Midtown South building to 460,000 square feet. Apple occupies the fourth through 14th floors.