{"id":395501,"date":"2022-01-18T05:22:01","date_gmt":"2022-01-18T02:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/despite-work-from-home-worries-manhattan-office-real-estate-is-doing-just-fine\/"},"modified":"2022-01-18T05:22:01","modified_gmt":"2022-01-18T02:22:01","slug":"despite-work-from-home-worries-manhattan-office-real-estate-is-doing-just-fine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/despite-work-from-home-worries-manhattan-office-real-estate-is-doing-just-fine\/","title":{"rendered":"#Despite work-from-home worries, Manhattan office real estate is doing just fine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;<strong>#Despite work-from-home worries, Manhattan office real estate is doing just fine<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<div class=\"inline-module inline-module--columnist inline-module--author\">\n<div class=\"inline-module--author__img\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"76\" height=\"69\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/08\/steve-cuozzo.png?w=76&amp;h=69&amp;crop=1\" class=\"attachment-nyp_columnist size-nyp_columnist\" alt=\"Steve Cuozzo\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/08\/steve-cuozzo.png 76w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/08\/steve-cuozzo.png?w=38 38w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 76px) 100vw, 76px\"\/>      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The office from which I write this column is mostly empty. So are the offices of many different companies \u2014 banks, law firms, <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a> \u2014 I can see from the New York Post\u2019s Midtown windows.<\/p>\n<p>But does it portend a dystopian future of deserted office towers, attended by a collapse of the tax base largely dependent on the economic clout of those towers?<\/p>\n<p>Nope \u2014 despite panic over a report showing companies are pitching more jobs than ever to the work-from-home crowd.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s only going to get worse,\u201d warned Partnership for New York City CEO Kathryn Wylde about findings by research firm Emsi Burning Glass. It\u2019s \u201ca big cultural shift, and I don\u2019t see it reversing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But we\u2019re all prisoners of the pandemic moment, just as we are of every moment. When the New Orleans Saints shut out the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Dec. 19, NFL sages confidently stated that the lowly Saints were headed for the playoffs and Tom Brady and the Bucs were cooked.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s time to look beyond the end-of-days forecasts and focus on a counterintuitive truth. Despite some 7.4% space reductions since March 2020 \u2014\u00a0peanuts compared with prognostications of up to 25% \u2014 the Big <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">App<\/a>le companies that use the most office space are taking not less but <em>more <\/em>of it, as I\u2019ll enumerate below.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/01\/office-space-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"Working later night overtime in an office building in the financial district of Hong Kong.\" class=\"wp-image-20868151\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/01\/office-space-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/01\/office-space-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/01\/office-space-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>The number of people working in Manhattan offices are still down compared to pre-pandemic numbers. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The phenomenon raises obvious questions: Are the people who run these companies all stupid? Don\u2019t they read interviews with WFH-loving executives in the suburbs who say on cue when prompted by journalists, \u201cI don\u2019t care if I never have to see the LIRR\/LIE\/New Jersey Turnpike\/Metro-North again\u201d?<\/p>\n<p>The Post exclusively reported the scary survey Monday. It showed that of major companies\u2019 December job postings, work-from-home positions jumped to 10.6% of all openings, or 25,800 of a total 243,000.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s a near-quadrupling of early 2020\u2019s 4% remote-job offerings.<\/p>\n<p>Never mind that 10.6% hardly sounds like a sea change when certain other \u201cexperts\u201d forecast that up to 75% of employees will work from home in the future. Data such as these, and other statistical and anecdotal reports, suggest to some that the city\u2019s office market \u2014 the commercial bulwark that accounts for more tax revenue than Wall Street \u2014 is on the brink of collapse.<\/p>\n<p>But as Charlie Chan was prone to say, \u201cContradiction, please.\u201d The\u00a0countervailing view shrugs off some companies\u2019 repeated postponements of return-to-office dates.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/01\/office-space-4.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"Manhattan skyline\" class=\"wp-image-20868150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/01\/office-space-4.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/01\/office-space-4.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/01\/office-space-4.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Companies are still signing big leases in Manhattan skyscrapers despite the growing number of jobs with the work-from-home title.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>For all the doom-and-gloom, major firms continue to renew huge leases \u2014 such as law firm Fried Frank at One New York Plaza downtown and Madison Square Garden Entertainment at 2 Penn Plaza in Midtown. Both re-signed for more than 400,000 square feet each.<\/p>\n<p>Brand-new Manhattan leases of at least 100,000 square feet signed in 2021 included outfits of all kinds: insurance giant Chubb Group at 550 Madison Ave., Turner Construction at The Spiral, law firm Venable at OneFiveFive, pharmaceutical-software developer Schr\u00f6dinger at 1540 Broadway and spirits-maker Suntory at 11 Madison Ave.<\/p>\n<p>In the last two weeks alone, streaming-television-hardware pioneer Roku inked for a quarter-million square feet at Five Times Square. That <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trip<\/a>les its New York space. Wait \u2014 isn\u2019t Roku the kind of company, with its young and tech-savvy workforce, you\u2019d expect to send everyone home?<\/p>\n<p>A few days later, Touro College and University took 240,000 square feet at Three Times Square. So much for the idea that whole obsolete office towers might be \u201cconverted\u201d to educational uses \u2014 in this case, an actual educational institution is paying a high office-market rent to be in one that is anything but obsolete.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the new leases were signed at rents above $100 per square foot, the longtime benchmark for the classiest tenants in the fanciest buildings.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/01\/office-space-3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"Manhattan buildings\" class=\"wp-image-20868149\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/01\/office-space-3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/01\/office-space-3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/01\/office-space-3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Streaming-television-hardware pioneer Roku signed a deal for a quarter-million square feet at Five Times Square.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Meanwhile, overall Manhattan office leasing jumped by a robust 8.3% in the fourth quarter, undeterred by Omicron. There\u2019s still plenty of space available, and rents are lower overall \u2014 but that hardly amounts to a sinking ship.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignright\">\n    <\/aside>\n<p>More large deals might be announced soon, possibly including for IBM and investment firm Franklin Templeton at One Madison Ave.<\/p>\n<p>Another barometer of confidence lies in building sales. Not only did the city\u2019s so-called investment-sale market return to pre-pandemic levels in 2021 \u2014 Manhattan office towers dominated it with 14 sales totaling $3.55 billion, more than half of the market that includes residential and industrial properties.<\/p>\n<p>Sure, Manhattan buildings\u2019 total value is down \u2014 how could it not be in today\u2019s climate? \u2014 but no owners have yet been observed jumping off their roofs.<\/p>\n<p>The pattern of resiliency could change, of course. Much will depend on how effectively Mayor Eric Adams can tame crime and homelessness, especially in the subways and at Penn Station. An unexpected new viral strain on the heels of receding Omicron could further delay back-to-office plans.<\/p>\n<p>But assuming no further catastrophes, the city and Manhattan especially will recapture their allure to the best and brightest careerists \u2014 and the skyline won\u2019t go dark any time soon.\n                        <\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. 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So are the offices of many different companies \u2014 banks, law firms, media \u2014 I can see from the New York Post\u2019s Midtown windows. But does it portend a dystopian future of deserted&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":395502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/01\/newspress-collage-20865458-1642470135894.png?w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[124173,72881,70344,4952,100959],"class_list":["post-395501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-1-17-22","tag-commercial-real-estate","tag-coronavirus-in-ny","tag-manhattan","tag-work-from-home"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}