As the Manhattan office market continues to move in the right direction overall, the midtown-west submarket remains one of the most impacted areas from COVID.
The data for loft buildings 75,000 - 200,000 Square Feet, 23rd-42nd Street, 7th-11th Avenues collectively shows:
- the current vacancy rate sits at 14.35% (higher if you include subleases), double the 10-year average
- space added to the market has outpaced space leased by over 220k square feet
- depending on the building's proximity to 5th Avenue, taking rents range from $25-$45 PSF
- 0 buildings have been sold in the last 12 months
In short, there is a ton of supply and little opportunity for these buildings to distinguish themselves outside of racing to the bottom on discounting pricing (which in many cases still remains 30-40% off its pre-COVID numbers).
So yes, it's a very good time to be a tenant in that submarket.
