A Japanese financial firm signed up for about 150,000 square feet of space with RXR in February, contributing to another solid month for Manhattan’s office sector.
Mizuho Financial Group, the parent company of Mizuho Americas, has subleased 151,409 square feet at RXR’s 1285 Sixth Ave. in Midtown, according to the latest report from Colliers. This marks at least the second major recent office deal at the building following its roughly 430,000-square-foot lease with law firm Ropes & Gray late last year.
Mizuho Americas currently leases around 382,000 square feet at Rockefeller Group’s 1271 Sixth Ave., according to CoStar. It was not immediately clear if its deal at 1285 Sixth Ave. was replacing or adding to this space. Representatives for Mizuho and RXR did not respond to requests for comment by press time. Rockefeller Group declined to comment.
Overall, firms leased about 3.2 million square feet in Manhattan last month, down 12.5% from January but up 38.3% year over year, according to Colliers. The largest deal by far was Jane Street Group extending and expanding to almost 1 million square feet at 250 Vesey St. downtown, followed by iCapital extending and expanding to about 220,000 square feet at 60 E. 42nd St. in Midtown.
The borough’s availability rate fell to 16.1%, while its average asking rent was $73.82 per square foot, up month over month but down year over year. There is still 86.7 million square feet of available office space in Manhattan, although absorption was positive in February for the eighth month in a row, the report says.
Midtown remained the busiest submarket in February despite Jane Street’s massive expansion in Lower Manhattan. Companies took about 1.4 million square feet of space overall, down month over month but up year over year. The largest deals came from iCapital and Mizuho, followed by Davis Polk & Wardwell leasing about 61,000 square feet at 237 Park Ave. and Glencore taking about 45,000 square feet at 90 Park Ave. The neighborhood’s availability rate fell slightly, to 14.8%, while its average asking rent rose slightly, to $79 per square foot.
Activity was much slower in Midtown South, where firms leased about 571,000 square feet of space, down sharply from January and February 2024, the report says. The neighborhood’s largest lease for the month was Netflix expanding to 33,000 square feet at 888 Broadway. The availability rate ticked down, to 16.5%, while its average asking rent fell slightly, to $78.03 per square foot.
Although downtown has traditionally been the slowest of the three office submarkets that Colliers tracks, it saw roughly 1.3 million square feet of activity last month, a huge increase month over month and year over year. This was largely because of the Jane Street deal, which was the biggest lease in Lower Manhattan since the end of 2019, the report says. The neighborhood’s availability rate also shrank, to 18.1%, and its average asking rent increased a bit, to $57.79 per square foot.
