Cleary Gottlieb’s 475k sf Lease Appears to be a Downsizing

When is a 475,000-square-foot lease a disappointment in Manhattan’s office market? When it appears to be a downsizing.

Law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton signed a deal for that size at Brookfield Properties’ One Liberty Plaza last month, according to a monthly Colliers report. The deal at the Financial District office tower topped the month’s activity, the Commercial Observer reported.

Details about the lease, including length and asking rent, were not disclosed. The average asking rent in Lower Manhattan last month was $62.21 per square foot, according to Colliers.

In a statement to the publication, the law firm said it “was pleased to recommit to our office in downtown Manhattan, with a new space in One Liberty Plaza.” The company’s been a tenant at the building since 1990, but appears to be changing offices in an attempt to better accommodate its workforce.

That doesn’t necessarily equate to growth, though. In 2007, the New York Post reported the law firm signed a 20-year lease at One Liberty Plaza for 550,000 square feet, which represented an expansion of 100,000 square feet at the time. It’s unclear if there’s been any movement since then, but if not, April’s top lease actually marks a 75,000-square-foot downsizing for the firm.

Brookfield’s Mikael Nahmias, Daniel Roberts and David Caperna represent One Liberty Plaza. The company did not respond to the Observer’s request for comment.

Other tenants at the 54-story building include Business Insider and law firm Chaves & Perlowitz. In 2024, Brookfield scored a $750 million loan from Morgan Stanley to refinance the 2.3-million-square-foot property.

In 2023, Brookfield acquired a 49 percent interest in the property from the building’s co-owner Blackstone Group at a valuation of $1 billion.

Manhattan tenants leased 3.6 million square feet of office space last month, according to Colliers. That was a 38 percent drop from March, but remained 30 percent above the 10-year monthly average.

— Holden Walter-Warner