Companies such as Singapore-based sovereign wealth fund Temasek, which has 27,000 square feet at the Seagram Building at 375 Park Ave., wanted to grow there — but no more space was available, sources told The Post.Manhattan’s office market mounted a stirring recovery from its pandemic doldrums, with space so tight that tenants wanting to move or expand are out of luck.It’s happening all over Midtown.
Law firm Baker Hostetler, based at 45 Rockefeller Plaza, is looking for more space than its current 90,000 square feet — but is similarly struggling to find it, according to sources. Much-discussed residential conversions have little or nothing to do with the tightened commercial market, insiders agree, because the mostly older converted buildings were turned into apartments precisely because they were useless for modern offices.
Marc Holliday, CEO of SL Green, the city’s largest commercial landlord, said in an investors call this week, “Vacancies will continue to fall as low as in midtown and [below 7% in the prime Park Avenue corridor — maybe the tightest conditions I’ve ever seen for prime space in my career. Hybrid work is already baked in and demand continues to rise.”SL Green’s Marc Holliday said it is “maybe the tightest conditions I’ve ever seen for prime space in my career.
Tighe attributed to scarcity of new product in part to the fact that, “We never tore down our old buildings” to make room for new ones.”