Manhattan Office Space Vacancies Rising; NBA Players Assn Leaving Harlem HQ

NEW YORK, Nov. 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Manhattan office space vacancies increased as new office construction progresses and office tenants are now considering Brooklyn offices desirable. Meanwhile, conversions and demolitions from office use to Condo and Hotel continue unabated.

 

Source: Optimal Spaces

Source: Optimal Spaces

Manhattan Retail leasing has been quiet as tenants balk at paying the new normal prices. More retail vacancies and longer vacant durations are causing Manhattan retail prices to drop. This trend is most clearly seen in Soho where one real estate broker said that prices have been reduced to 50% of last year’s rental rate.

 

Stephen Sunderland. a market research VP at Optimal Spaces, highlighted the a few trends in his analysis of the NYC office market.

  • The National Basketball Players Association is selling its Harlem headquarters building at 310 Lenox Avenue, between West 125th and 126th streets. The NBA’s official players’ union will vacate 11,000 square feet at the 25,000-square-foot building, which is under contract to be sold.

 

  • The Archdiocese of New York is backing a Midtown East rezoning that would allow St. Patrick’s Cathedral to sell its unused air rights to developers. A committee studying the neighborhood’s development potential proposed freeing up landmarked properties, like St. Patrick’s, to sell air rights anywhere within the rezoned district.

 

  • Canadians invested $3.8 billion into New York City’s property market this year, nearly doubling last year’s $1.97 billion total, and surpassing the previous record of $2 billion in 2007. Canadian investors have purchased $15.5 billion worth of property in the city in the last decade, more than any other foreign country including the Chinese and the Russians.

 

  • Japanese investors are returning to New York’s commercial real estate market not seen since the country’s economic downturn in the 1990s. Japan-based real estate companies purchased $1.5 billion of property in the city in the past 12 months.

 

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