NYCs high-end office market scores record year for new leases that top $200 per square foot

Move over, C-Note — the Manhattan high-end office market’s new exclusive club has a $200 per-square-foot admission charge.A record 28 new leases were done at rents above $200 per square foot in 2024, The Post has learned.The deals represented the top tier of the top tier.Meanwhile, there was also a record, 212 deals inked for at least $100 per square foot, according to a stunning new JLL report.The JLL report highlighted a banner Manhattan leasing year that saw 30.2 million square feet in overall space-grabbing – up 19.4% over 2023 and the first time the 30-million mark was hit since 2018.“The top-of-the-market leasing represented almost a third of the whole market for 2024,” marveled JLL vice-chairman Cynthia Wasserberger, leader of a JLL team that shared an “Analysis of Top Tier Transactions” with The Post.“When we peel back on the $200-plus market, people aren’t blinking at these rents any more.We saw nearly 600,000 square feet of them” in 2024, Wasserberger said.The larger, $100-plus pinnacle class of 2024 accounted for an unprecedented 9.8 million square feet of space, as measured by JLL, handily whipping the previous high of 8.8 million square feet in ancient-seeming 2019.A mere 5.6 million square feet clocked in at $100-plus in 2023.Although JLL named no tenants in its survey and later declined to name any when The Post asked about them, market sources revealed that two major closings ended the year with a bang on New Year’s Eve.Stonepeak, which expanded from 55 Hudson Yards, and Visa each took 150,000 square feet of Warner Brothers Discovery sublease floors at rents above $100 per square foot.“Visa and Stonepeak were feeling heat to sign at 30 Hudson Yards by the end of the year,” one insider told The Post.

“Because if they didn’t, they knew there was no shortage of others ready and willing to jump in.”No one at CBRE, which worked on both deals, was able to comment due to strict non-disclosure agreements.The gold-standard tra...