Posted Jan 23, 2026, 12:58 AM
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New Yorker for life
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
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https://nypost.com/2026/01/22/lifest...office-towers/
Leased lightning: Tenants are racing to ink deals in NYC’s flashiest future office towers
By Lois Weiss
Jan. 22, 2026
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Prime Midtown office buildings are so full that the largest tenants are inking leases for towers that won’t open their doors for another five to seven years.
Citadel has leased part of the future 350 Park Ave. Deloitte is moving from Rockefeller Center to 70 Hudson Yards, now in development. C.V. Starr is going to the eventual 343 Madison Ave. And Simpson Thacher snagged the lower portion of Gary Barnett’s 570 Park Ave. — which, sources said, is being redesigned into a larger, 1.6 million-ish square feet to accommodate the law firm’s growth and attract other tenants that will pay more for the top of that tower.
“It is a game of musical chairs with large tenants jockeying for the next site to be built,” said Jonathan Mazur, who oversees research at Newmark.
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A developer for the Roosevelt Hotel site and a new operator for the Chrysler Building have also yet to be chosen, leaving those prominent properties in flux.
SL Green, the city’s largest building owner, is in discussions with a “great” office tenant for 1515 Broadway — where its lease with Skydance has over three years left to run. And if that doesn’t work out, the tower will be redeveloped as a hotel with a larger entertainment podium that could host virtual Disneyland-like rides.
Tenants on the prowl include Blue Owl Capital (seeking 600,000 square feet), Capital One (seeking 850,000 square feet), Proskauer Rose (seeking 400,000 square feet) and Two Sigma Investments (seeking 350,000 square feet).
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Even Penn 15, Vornado’s long dormant Hotel Pennsylvania site opposite Madison Square Garden, is getting serious lookers.
“At our Penn 15 site, we are now responding to requests for proposals for substantial blocks of space,” CEO Steve Roth said on a November conference call, adding, “This is not just kicking the tires. This is serious business.”
Other tenants are buckling down and staying put. And even large tenants are renewing in recognition that they won’t have many options until new developments arrive, explained Mary Ann Tighe of CBRE.
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That’s one reason Bruce Mosler of Cushman & Wakefield said 44 tenants occupying over 100,000 square feet renewed their leases — compared to just 36 in 2024.
The problem extends to both large and mid-sized tenants that are seeking prime locations, even at high rents. “Every time we submit a proposal and there is competition, it becomes a beauty pageant as to which tenant has the better credit profile,” explained Adam Henick of Current Real Estate Advisors. “It’s the Wild West and you have to dig your heels in to get deals done.”
One of Mosler’s tenants was bumped three times in its quest for 50,000 square feet. Of course, the AI boom is partially responsible for the squeeze. For the last three years, AI pioneers have gobbled up huge swaths of square footage, with AI firms comprising 59% of all Midtown South leasing.
Savills is now tracking 2 million square feet of active AI requirements for 2026. And while some are worried the AI tenant boom will fizzle out — echoing the dotcom bust of the 2000s — brokers said, for the most part, these new entrants are well funded and have high, in-office expectations. “They are driven to high-end, amenitized Class A buildings rather than scrappy side-street properties,” said Zev Holzman of Savills.
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