Manhattan signs 6.54M sq ft

Manhattan office leasing has a tech story again. That is the real news here. Colliers says tech companies signed 6.54 million square feet in Manhattan in 2025, up 71.4% from 2024, with 235 leases — a record count for the sector. (colliers.com) That matters because New York’s office market has spent years trying to prove the pandemic slump was not permanent. Tech used to be one of the biggest engines of demand, then it went quiet, then it dumped space on the sublet market. Now it is back to taking space again — and not just in tiny bites. (costar.com)n Manhattan hit its second-highest annual total on record in 2025, trailing only 2019’s peak of 7.57 million square feet. The jump was not a rounding-error rebound either — it beat the overall Manhattan office market’s growth rate, and tech made up 15.6% of all Manhattan office leasing last year. (co([costar.com)ggest named deals tell you this was not just startup noise. Salesforce renewed and expanded for 350,000 square feet at 1095 Avenue of the Americas. Amazon took 330,000 square feet at 10 Bryant Park. PayPal committed to a combined 261,000 square feet across 345 Hudson Street and 555 Greenwich Street. Stripe expanded by 139,000 square feet at (colliers.com)uth. (colliers.com) ### Why does the deal count matter? Because 235 leases means breadth, not just a couple of trophy transactions. Colliers says that beat the prior record by more than 80 deals. There were also nine leases above 100,000 square feet in 2025, up from six in 2024 and just two in 2023. Basically, more companies were active, and more of them were willing to sign large commitments. (colliers.com) ### Where in Manhattan is this happening? Midtown South still dominates. It captured about two-thirds of tech demand in both 2025 and the first quarter of 2026. But Midtown had its strongest tech leasing year on record too, with 1.18 million square feet. So this is not one neighborhood carrying the whole story — demand is spreading into the parts of Manhattan where landlords can offer newer, higher-spec space. (colliers.com) ### How big is the AI piece? Big enough to matter, but not the whole market. Colliers says AI firms signed 790,000 square feet in 2025. In the first quarter of 2026 alone, they leased another 670,000 square feet, more than one-third of all tech demand that quarter. JLL’s separate first-quarter read also shows AI leasing accelerating fast, with 415,000 square feet in Q1 2026 and larger average lease sizes than a year earlier. (colliers.com) ### Are tenants getting bargains? Not really. Tech firms paid up for quality. Colliers says the average taking rent for the tech sector rose 6.5% in 2025 to a record $90.31 per square foot, above Manhattan’s all-sector average for the first time since 2020. Landlords also gave record concessions — more free rent and bigger build-out packages — which tells you the market is competitive, but mostly for the best space. (colliers.com) ### Does this mean Manhattan offices are fully back? Not fully. The broader market improved sharply in 2025, with 41.9 million square feet leased across Manhattan, the strongest year since 2019, but availability was still 13.9% at year-end and tens of millions of square feet remained open. So the recovery is real — but uneven. Trophy and well-located buildings are winning first. (crainsnewyork.com) ### Bottom line? The simple version is this: Manhattan did not just get a few splashy AI leases. It got a broad tech rebound. Big incumbents came back, growth companies expanded, AI added fuel, and landlords finally got proof that office demand in New York still exists at scale — if the building is good enough. (colliers.com)