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title: Midtown Office Market Memo - May 2025
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Midtown Office Update: May 2025 - In Manhattan, everything clears at a price

| View in browser May 2025 Built School Space with CO \| Click for Details Midtown Office Market Memo - May 2025 In Manhattan, everything clears at a price   💸 Mid-Block Manhattan Is Resetting… and Clearing In the Garment District, pre-war mid-block office buildings are continuing to trade (for sale) in the $180-$300 PSF range depending on exact location, condition and how much base building needs to get done with office rents ranging from $30-45 PSF. Some owners are keeping the building's as offices, investing in modest upgrades to attract value-seeking tenants. Others are flipping the use entirely and going residential, especially if the floorplates and light lines work. Either way: the bid-ask spread is narrowing and the product is moving.   🤝 Flex-Space Consolidates—but Pricing Is Up We’re seeing fewer operators, but stronger ones, and they’re commanding more. As the flex-space market tightens, pricing is rising, especially for smaller <10 person teams. Some coworking deals are moving at lightning speed (we closed one same-day this spring), which speaks to the operational efficiency tenants now demand and the providers still in the game are absorbing demand at higher margins.   🚆 Hot Pockets: Grand Central’s Quiet Heat The Grand Central submarket is quietly red-hot. Occupancy is well above 90% in most buildings, and if you find a building that isn’t, it’s probably a sign to stay away. Location, proximity to transit, and in-place tenant stability are creating a small scale flight-to-convenience for tenants.   💥 The Bailouts Are Here—If You Held On This month, the thesis became reality: owners who held on are finally getting saved. Either through: Recaps/Refis (like most of the RFR Realty portfolio), Sales (522 Fifth, 452 Fifth, 320 Park, 1345 AofA partial stake) Capital is flowing again, but only into assets where pricing & potential finally align.   💡 Final Take Midtown’s recovery isn’t headline-grabbing—but it’s happening. The key isn’t optimism. It’s math. When the basis resets and the rent rolls reflect reality, deals clear. And that’s exactly what we’re seeing.   Until next month, Ben Ben Blumenthal Principal Broker \| Noah & Co.    The Best of the Month The month kicked off with news of Delloitte's massive deal to relocate its HQ to Hudson Yards, followed by BlackRock putting an end to WFH and Vornado posting earnings that beat its Q1 estimates. So where's the latest action? < 10k SF - Renew York Spa set to open 4k SF spa in Chelsea - Therapy practice Bridge Medical expanding at 389 Fifth - Tuchman Weiss Liebman & Lindemann ink 11-year deal at 551 Fifth - Marketing firm Instant making 55 W. 21st its new HQ 10k+ SF - Marx Realty locked in Riveron to 20k SF at 10 Grand Central - Situation Group renewed for 9+ years at 469 Seventh - Law firm Fox Rothschild locked in 75k SF at 101 Park - PNC Bank relocating to 2 floors at Sage's 437 Madison Construction to widen sidewalks on Fifth Avenue set for 2028 Read On Another office-to-resi: Times Square tower set to become 1,250 apts Read On Amazon's Prime Purchase: 522 Fifth for $350 million Read On CityPickle opening 60k SF pickeball hub under the Brooklyn Bridge   Read On Renderings revealed for planned upgrades to Lincoln Center Read On Expansion coming to Rockaway ferry service this summer Read On Noah & Co., 600 Fifth Avenue, 2nd fl., New York, NY 10020, (212) 947-7120 Manage Preferences |
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