Google opened its latest Manhattan location at the transformed St. John’s Terminal. “It’s a … [+] testament to New York’s vibrancy, diverse talent pool and world-class institutions that keep us rooted here,” Sean Downey President, Americas & Global Business, wrote in his blog post.
Google welcomed thousands of “Googlers” this week to its newest New York City facility at St. John’s Terminal, a 1.3 million-square-foot former rail terminal that has been transformed into an urban campus featuring shared neighborhood seating, a range of communal workspaces, lounges on every floor, cafes, terraces, micro-kitchens, gardens and views of the Hudson River.
Over 14,000 Google employees now work in New York today, up from 7,000 in 2018. “It’s a testament to New York’s vibrancy, diverse talent pool and world-class institutions that keep us rooted here,” Sean Downey, President, Americas & Global Business, wrote in a blog post announcing the new office.
Google purchased St. John’s Terminal at 550 Washington Street in Manhattan’s Hudson Square neighborhood in 2022 for $1.97 billion, bringing the tech giant’s footprint to nearly 6 million square feet across seven Manhattan sites.
Companies Take Advantage of Weaker CRE Market
Major firms are following Google’s lead and taking advantage of New York City’s weaker investment sales market to pick up prime office, retail and industrial assets to enhance their own brands.
New York City saw investment property sales fall 40 percent to $22.1 billion in 2023 the lowest in the past decade, excluding 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Ariel Property Advisors’ New York City Year-End Sales Report.
New York City investment sales dropped 40% year-over-year to $22 billion in 2023.
Ariel Property Advisors
The office market was particularly hard hit last year with sales falling 59% citywide to $3.2 billion in 2023 compared to the previous year.
New York City office sales fell 59% year-over-year to $3.2 billion in 2023.
Ariel Property Advisors
Demand for office assets cooled as the pandemic fundamentally changed the way we do business and companies shifted from five-day work weeks to a hybrid model, bringing average office occupancy rates to 65% of pre-pandemic levels in 2023. As a result, the value of Manhattan office buildings dropped year-over-year by 22% to $848/SF, with Class A offices trading at a premium and Class B and C buildings trading below the average, Ariel’s Manhattan 2023 Year-End report shows.
Major Companies Make Offices Their Home
The anemic office market presented an opportunity for companies seeking to enhance collaboration and retain talent by controlling their office environment and acquiring space at one of the lowest value points in years.
Wells Fargo was among them, purchasing over 400,000 square feet of space at 20 Hudson Yards from developer The Related Companies for $408 million. The financial institution announced the transaction as a significant investment in the New York City and “an opportunity to bring most NYC-based Wells Fargo employees together in one location for improved collaboration and access to new, more modern workspaces, technology, and amenities.” The Hudson Yards space had been vacant since 2020 after its previous tenant, Neiman Marcus, declared bankruptcy.
The Wells Fargo building in Hudson Yards will include a dedicated entrance on 10th Avenue and naming … [+] rights on the exterior of the property.
Wells Fargo
Consumer products leader Enchanté Accessories purchased a 12-story, 121,000-square-foot building at 147-149 Madison Avenue for $77 million, 12% below the $87.7 million price Columbia Property Trust paid in 2017. WeWork had signed a lease for the entire building in 2018 but abandoned the project in 2020 after Columbia had reportedly made $16 million in renovations.
Additionally, Seoul-based automaker Hyundai acquired 15 Laight Street in Tribeca for $275 million. Hyundai will use the newly redeveloped, eight-story building to house its offices and showroom. Another Korean firm, media company MediaWill, purchased a 113,000 square foot office building at 110 West 32nd Street from a long-term owner for $37 million.
Educational institutions also saw value in buying their own buildings as demonstrated by New York University, which acquired 400 Lafayette Street in Manhattan for $97.5 million in 2023 and 3 Metrotech Center in Brooklyn for $122 million the year before.
Prada: The Retail Story of 2023
Luxury retailers noticed that Manhattan was on sale and acted on it. Last December, Prada closed on its $822 million purchase of 720-724 5th Avenue from Wharton Properties. Prada has been selling its luxury fashions in a 15,500-square-foot space at 724 Fifth Avenue for 25 years, renewing its lease in 2013 starting at $19 million, according to an article published in The Real Deal.
Prada purchased 720-24 5th Avenue for $822 million in 2023.
Ariel Property Advisors
Gucci’s parent company, Kering SA acquired Wharton’s 115,000-square-foot, three-level retail space at 715-717 Fifth Avenue this January for nearly $1 billion. And, the Wall Street Journal reported that LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton “is in discussions to purchase the 5th Avenue retail space occupied by Bergdorf Goodman’s men’s store.”
With increased foot traffic and tourism as a backdrop, leasing activity on 5th Avenue improved last year. Abercrombie and Aritzia relocated to new spaces on the prime retail corridor, Swarovski opened a two-story flagship at 680 5th Avenue, Italian sneaker brand P448 moved to 663 5th Avenue and footwear designer Armando Cabral is planning to take space at 620 5th Avenue, according to the Real Estate Board of New York’s latest Manhattan Retail Report. Vacancies are rare and average asking rents on prime 5th Avenue are exceeding $2,000 per square foot, but still below the peak of $3,900 in late 2017, the report showed.
When it comes to retail, the value is in prime locations as illustrated by these transactions. Like the companies buying office buildings, Prada and Gucci are enhancing their brands and cementing their commitment to New York City through real estate.
Delivering Opportunity: FedEx
In Brooklyn, another company decided to control its future by buying industrial space last year. This time it was FedEx that purchased 50 21st Street in Sunset Park for $248 million, a deal that accounted for 38% of the borough’s total $652.4 million in industrial sales in 2023, according to Ariel Property Advisors’ Brooklyn 2023 Year-End Commercial Real Estate Trends report.
FedEx purchased 50 21st Street in Sunset Park for $248 million.
Fed Ex
Fed Ex’s purchase follows the acquisition of two warehouses leased to Amazon at 640 Columbia Street and 578 Cozine Avenue, which traded last year for a combined $560.6 million.
These transactions are examples that reaffirm Brooklyn’s position as a premier distribution hub with easy access to all five boroughs, Long Island, New Jersey and beyond. Looking ahead, we expect Brooklyn’s industrial market to continue to reap the benefits of the e-commerce boom.
Will the Owner/User Trend Continue?
In addition to South Korea and Italy, other international investors from Germany, Qatar, Japan, France and Spain are being drawn to New York City because of its lower prices and other factors. Japanese investors alone put $3.7 billion into commercial real estate in the United States, the largest level since 2016, due in part to Japan’s lower borrowing rates.
Mortgage maturities are expected to double in 2024, according to a forecast by Moody’s. The anticipated result is that there will be more forced decisions to sell, which could present major brands seeking to attract top talent and control their destiny with more opportunities in the New York City commercial real estate market this year.
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