Manhattan Awash in Office Space

When we were looking for office space 2 summers ago, the market in midtown was tight as a drum. My partner Kevin and I each said we were likely top ticking the real estate market, but we really had no choice.(At least we can trade up to bigger space in out buildings)

From tomorrow’s NYT:

Last year, when the New York real estate market was still frothy, large blocks of office space were hard to come by. Not anymore.

Almost 16 million square feet is currently listed as available in large blocks in 68 office buildings in Manhattan, according to Colliers ABR, a commercial brokerage firm. That is nearly double the space available a year ago, both in terms of the number of large office blocks — which in New York usually means 100,000 square feet or more — and in terms of total square feet.

Those figures are widely expected to go much higher.

Given the collapse on Wall Street, and the massive layoffs, there will be a lot of extra space coming to market soon.

Some good advice for tenants? Shop around:

“Tenants might do better by shopping the sublet market rather than trying to renegotiate a better rent with their current landlords. “A lot of landlords are still in denial,” Mr. Colacino said, “but the sublease space is priced realistically for the actual market conditions.”

But the picture could become much starker next year. Among large office blocks that brokers expect to hit the market, Mr. Sammons estimates that the financial industry will account for roughly one-third of the new space coming on the market in Midtown and more than half of the new space downtown.

The Deflation trade continues . . .

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Source:
In Manhattan, a Flood of Available Office Space
J. ALEX TARQUINIO
NYT, December 2, 2008 SQUARE FEET
Changes roiling the financial industry have contributed to a doubling of the listings of large office blocks.

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