October 2025

Musing: The Imagination Gap in office Leasing

Most people touring office space aren’t developers or designers.
They’re business owners who know their business - not how to picture drywall, flooring selections, lighting, and furniture placement.

That’s why raw or dated space in the small-to-midsize market so often stalls.

Those searches are usually led by the C-suite, whose skills lie in other areas. If they can’t visualize it, they can’t value it.

For landlords, that means one thing: don’t make them imagine. Build the space to be turn-key ready. A space that looks alive commands a premium and leases faster.

For tenants, the flip side is opportunity. If you can see what others can’t by imagining the finished product, you’re competing against a smaller market of demand. The same holds true in subleases — a space that feels awkwardly divided or half-finished can look like a problem to most, but with focus (and the right price), it can be a quiet home run.

And for brokers, this is one of those quiet edges where we create real value by bridging the gap between what’s there, what could be, and what a decision-maker can and can’t see.

In a market where vision is in short supply, presentation and perspective are everything. Whether you’re a landlord positioning space, a tenant evaluating it, or a subtenant trying to make sense of someone else’s layout, the right visuals and the right advisor can turn an empty floor into a clear decision.

Until next month,

Ben

Ben Blumenthal
Principal Broker | Noah & Co.

Manhattan office availability has reached its lowest levels since 2020, headlined by significant leasing activity in Grand Central, where BXP announced a tentative deal with C.V. Starr to lease over 275,000 square feet in its new 343 Madison Avenue development.

So where else is the action happening?

Feast of the East

- Sagard Capital Partners is expanding its 280 Park Ave digs
- 2 renewals + 3 new leases keep GFP busy at 515 Madison
- Law firm Fox Horan moves into direct lease at the Lipstick Building
- Verist set to open its first NYC HQ at 650 Fifth Avenue

Best of the West

- Palistar Capital expands to 14k SF within Rock Center
- Media firm Versant leased temp space at the former NY Times Building
- Jencap Group inked an expansion+renewal at 1350 Broadway
- FGS Global relocating to 80k SF at Vornado's Penn 2

Manhattan Office set for strongest annual leasing since 2014

Your office building is being converted.
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