Cassidy Turley January Manhattan Office Market Report

Cassidy Turley released the following January Manhattan Office Market Report: Manhattan Highlights * Class A rents increased to $72.78 per s/f, up $0.66 per s/f from the fourth quarter. * Class B rents dipped slightly by $0.73 per s/f to $54.41 per s/f, due to a few submarkets in Midtown and Midtown South declining. * Manhattan availability remained at 10.8%, despite several large spaces becoming available in Midtown and Downtown. * Manhattan absorption posted negative 266,231 s/f to start the year after posting 7.1 million s/f of positive absorption throughout 2013. Neighborhood Highlights * Midtown adds expected space * Midtown's availability increased 30 basis points in January to 11.1%, almost solely due to the media and publishing industry. - This increase can be attributed to the Durst Organization bringing Condé Nast's space to the market at 4 Times Square, a 817,252 s/f block. - This large block and an additional 228,926 s/f space at 237 Park Ave. contributed to the negative 871,775 s/f of absorption in January. - Class A asking rents increased $0.86 per s/f to $80.89 per s/f, since the fourth-quarter. - First $1 billion investment transaction of the New Year: A joint venture led by Related Companies acquired Time Warner's 1.1 million-square-foot office unit at the Time Warner Center for $1.3 billion; Time Warner also completed a leaseback until their space at Hudson Yards is completed. * Midtown South heats up * Midtown South witnessed a 120-point-basis-drop in availability. -At 7.6 percent, the availability rate is the lowest since early 2006. - Absorption starts on a high note as positive 867,409 s/f was posted in January. - Sony leased 520,000 s/f at 11 Madison Avenue. - Twitter took 140,000 s/f at 245-159 West 17th Street. MasterCard and Mashable taking a combined 96,630 s/f at 114 Fifth Avenue. * Class A asking rents decreased $1.02 per s/f to $71.75 per s/f, since the fourth-quarter. * Class B rents are up $0.16 per s/f to $60.48, since the fourth quarter. * Downtown starts year slow * Downtown availability increased 40 basis points to 13.3% to start the year. * This is due to several blocks in the Financial submarket becoming available for occupancy in January 2015. * Absorption posted negative 261,865 s/f. * Class B rents rose $0.33 per s/f to $37.72 per s/f. * Class A asking rents dipped $0.33 per s/fto $54.98 per s/f in January. * Leasing activity Downtown was led by Allied World Insurance extending their lease on a direct basis as well as expanding for a total of 143,297 s/f at 199 Water St.