Midtown real estate is booming with return-to-office in ‘full swing’

We’ve reported more than once that leasing, investment sales and return-to-office are all booming, and we’re glad the rest of the world is catching up.

That was a bombshell buried deep in the Wall Street Journal’s story last week about the Manhattan office surge. BXP’s likely anchor tenant at 343 Madison Ave. — a ground-up, $2 billion project linked to Grand Central Terminal — will be financial firm C.V. Starr.

The deal would be for 275,000 square feet, the Commercial Observer later reported. It was assumed BXP had landed a tenant when it started vertical construction but no names surfaced until now. BXP, a publicly traded company, predictably had no comment when we asked.

The deal occurs against the backdrop of a seemingly unstoppable market. Transwestern’s third-quarter earnings report cited a Manhattan office recovery “in full swing,” with reductions in both direct and sublease availability to 14.8%.

Maybe most significantly, Transwestern found the construction pipeline “near historic lows” with just 3.2 million square feet in active construction — 22% less than the previous quarter. Demand for more space while little new space comes online will surely drive up rents.

While SL Green’s contract to buy Park Avenue Tower for $730 million was the headline news out of its third-quarter earnings last week, it’s also worth noting the developer’s success at One Madison Ave.

New leases for Harvey AI Corp. and Sigma Computing and an expansion by an unidentified financial services company lifted the redeveloped tower’s office occupancy to 91.2% — remarkable for a 1.4 million square-foot property that opened little more than a year ago.

The influx of employees will bring even more customers to Daniel Boulud’s steakhouse La Tete d’Or, which already has almost more business than it can handle.

RXR reports four leases totaling 25,000 square feet at 75 Rockefeller Plaza. The new tenant is Fenergo which took 4,670 square feet on the 22nd floor. Ayson Corp. and Rand Merchant Bank both renewed, while Quinbrook renewed and expanded.

Asking rents in the tower are $105-$110 per square foot.

RXR New York managing director William Elder said, “The competitive office market is forcing many to choose between having a great location or being in a top-quality building, and 75 Rock offers both.”