Back in August, we took a snapshot of the largest Manhattan office leases signed through the first half of 2025. Some deals raised eyebrows. Others sparked debates about what tenants really want from their office space.
Now that we’re in 2026, we can finally see the full picture. Did the early momentum hold? Did any late-year surprises shake up the rankings?
We pulled together CoStar data on 2025’s largest Manhattan office leases to let you draw your own conclusions.
A Bird’s Eye View: The 10 Largest Manhattan Office Leases of 2025
Square footage tells the story here. We ranked these deals purely by size because when a tenant commits to 300,000 SF or more, that decision impacts an entire submarket. Asking rents shift. Competing landlords take notice. Other tenants start second-guessing their own timelines.
The list below includes a mix of new leases and renewals, spanning Downtown towers to Hudson Yards glass boxes. Some names will look familiar. Others might surprise you.
1. New York University at 770 Broadway
- Tenant: New York University
- Building: 770 Broadway
- Square Footage: 1,067,383 SF
- Deal Type: New
- Neighborhood: Greenwich Village
NYU went big. Really big. The university signed a lease that effectively absorbs an entire building’s worth of space with an ultra-long-term commitment. A deal of this magnitude signals serious institutional confidence in the Greenwich Village corridor and removes a massive block from the market for decades.
2. Deloitte at 70 Hudson Yards
- Tenant: Deloitte
- Building: 70 Hudson Yards
- Square Footage: 800,010 SF
- Deal Type: New
- Neighborhood: Penn Plaza/Garment (Hudson Yards)
Deloitte planted its flag at campus scale. The professional services giant’s 800,000 SF commitment adds another anchor tenant to Hudson Yards’ growing roster and ranks among the few deals anywhere in Manhattan that qualify as true headquarters-level sizing.
3. Moody’s at 200 Liberty Street
- Tenant: Moody’s
- Building: 200 Liberty Street (Brookfield Place)
- Square Footage: 461,567 SF
- Deal Type: New
- Neighborhood: World Trade Center
Downtown scored a major win with Moody’s nearly half-million SF commitment at Brookfield Place. A single tenant absorbing that much space helps de-risk large-block vacancy in the World Trade Center area and gives the Financial District a confidence boost.
4. Bloomberg at 120 Park Avenue
- Tenant: Bloomberg
- Building: 120 Park Avenue
- Square Footage: 435,355 SF
- Deal Type: Renewal
- Neighborhood: Grand Central
Bloomberg decided to stay put. The media and data giant’s renewal removes a significant rollover risk from Midtown East and keeps a premier tenant anchored near Grand Central. Landlords in the submarket can breathe a little easier.
5. UNA-USA at Two United Nations Plaza
- Tenant: UNA-USA
- Building: Two United Nations Plaza
- Square Footage: 425,190 SF
- Deal Type: Renewal
- Neighborhood: United Nations
The United Nations Association renewed its commitment next door to its namesake campus. A 425,000 SF renewal stabilizes one of the submarket’s defining assets and keeps a major mission-driven organization exactly where you’d expect to find it.
6. MPG Operations LLC at 399 Park Avenue
- Tenant: MPG Operations LLC
- Building: 399 Park Avenue
- Square Footage: 408,685 SF
- Deal Type: Renewal
- Neighborhood: Plaza District
A 400,000+ SF renewal at a premier Plaza District address carries weight. Deals like this one support premium rent expectations across Midtown and signal that top-tier tenants still value flagship locations.
7. Horizon Media at 75 Varick Street
- Tenant: Horizon Media Inc
- Building: 75 Varick Street
- Square Footage: 366,992 SF
- Deal Type: Renewal
- Neighborhood: Hudson Square
Horizon Media renewed at a meaningful scale in Hudson Square, reinforcing the neighborhood’s identity as a creative and agency center. The media buyer’s decision to stay keeps the submarket’s tenant mix intact.
8. New York Office of the Attorney General at 28 Liberty Street
- Tenant: New York Office of the Attorney General
- Building: 28 Liberty Street
- Square Footage: 358,460 SF
- Deal Type: Renewal
- Neighborhood: Financial District
The public sector showed up for FiDi. The Attorney General’s office renewed a substantial block in a landmark tower, shoring up daytime occupancy Downtown and locking in a rare large-block tenant for the long haul.
9. Ropes & Gray at 1211 Avenue of the Americas
- Tenant: Ropes & Gray
- Building: 1211 Avenue of the Americas
- Square Footage: 346,425 SF
- Deal Type: Renewal
- Neighborhood: Times Square
Ropes & Gray’s renewal serves as a bridge while the law firm plans a future move. The commitment matters because it keeps a huge block occupied in the near term, which helps vacancy optics even if the firm eventually relocates.
10. Amazon at 10 Bryant Park
- Tenant: Amazon
- Building: 10 Bryant Park (452 Fifth Avenue)
- Square Footage: 331,065 SF
- Deal Type: New
- Neighborhood: Penn Plaza/Garment
Amazon grabbed over 330,000 SF in Midtown, proving the tech giant still sees value in physical office space. A marquee name signing a lease of this size influences comps and shapes tenant sentiment well beyond the building itself.
What These Deals Reveal About the Manhattan Office Market
Numbers tell one story. Patterns tell another. The top 10 largest Manhattan office leases of 2025 offer a snapshot, but the full CoStar dataset shows 35 deals exceeding 100,000 SF signed throughout the year.
When you zoom out and look at tenant behavior, lease terms, building types, and geographic spread, a clearer picture emerges about where the market stands and who’s driving activity.
Large Tenants Are Committing Again
The headline isn’t volume. It’s duration. Many of these leases stretch 10 to 17 years, with Salesforce, Guggenheim, Scotiabank, BakerHostetler, and Piper Sandler all locking in 15-year terms or longer. NYU’s 70-year commitment at 770 Broadway sits in a category of its own.
Well-capitalized tenants with established operations appear to have stopped waiting for some mythical “better deal” around the corner. They’re planting flags. Whether that reflects confidence in long-term office utilization or simply favorable negotiating conditions, you can judge for yourself.
Renewals Dominate the List
Count the renewals on the top 10 list: Bloomberg, UNA-USA, MPG Operations, Horizon Media, the NY Attorney General, and Ropes & Gray. Six of ten. The broader CoStar data reinforces the trend with renewals from Salesforce, Guggenheim, Monday.com, AMC Networks, BakerHostetler, Santander, Newmark, and A&E Networks.
Tenants are choosing to stay. Landlords are successfully defending occupancy at scale. Retention rates at this level suggest existing tenants see value in their current locations and aren’t rushing to downsize or relocate.
Flight to Quality Has Layers
Trophy towers grabbed headlines. Deloitte’s 800,000 SF at 70 Hudson Yards. Scotiabank’s 237,640 SF at 660 Fifth Avenue. BakerHostetler’s renewal at 45 Rockefeller Plaza. The flight-to-quality narrative holds weight.
However, the data also shows strong leasing in well-located, modernized older buildings. AMC Networks renewed 177,000 SF at 11 Penn Plaza, a 1926 building. Rippling signed 132,693 SF at 330 W 34th Street, also built in 1926. WeWork (with Amazon as the end user) took 256,945 SF at 1440 Broadway, a 1925 property.
Quality apparently means different things to different tenants. Some want glass curtain walls and column-free floors. Others prioritize location, floor plate efficiency, and renovated infrastructure over construction vintage.
Finance and Professional Services Lead the Charge
Scan the tenant roster across all 35 deals: Guggenheim, Scotiabank, MUFG, Sumitomo Mitsui, Moody’s, Santander, iCapital, Stripe, and FDIC. Finance and banking show up repeatedly. Law firms like Ropes & Gray, BakerHostetler, Kirkland & Ellis, and Goodwin Procter anchor the professional services category. Deloitte and Cushman & Wakefield add to that total.
Tech and media round out the mix with Salesforce, Amazon, Bloomberg, Rippling, Monday.com, and Versant Media.
Notably absent from the largest deals: early-stage startups, speculative growth companies, and small-footprint occupiers. The tenants writing big checks have durable cash flows and long operating histories.
Midtown Rules, But Downtown Shows Up
Midtown submarkets claim the majority of square footage. Grand Central, Plaza District, Times Square, and Penn Plaza/Garment account for most of the top 10 and dominate the broader list.
Downtown activity shouldn’t be overlooked, though. Moody’s committed to 461,567 SF at 200 Liberty Street. The NY Attorney General renewed 358,460 SF at 28 Liberty, where Stripe also signed for 139,789 SF. NYU’s million-plus SF deal at 770 Broadway adds to Downtown and Midtown South totals.
Even though Midtown clearly remains the primary magnet for the largest commitments, the data suggests large-block leasing isn’t confined to a single corridor.
Landlords Played the Long Game
Some of these spaces sat vacant for years before finding takers. The Moody’s space at 200 Liberty was on the market for 78 months. The NY Attorney General’s space at 28 Liberty shows a vacancy dating back to 2015. Piper Sandler’s floors at 1301-1315 Avenue of the Americas spent 76 months on the market. The WeWork/Amazon space at 1440 Broadway was marketed for 50 months.
Landlords with quality assets appear to have prioritized tenant credit quality and lease term over quick fills at discounted rents. Whether that patience reflects market confidence or simply limited alternatives, the end result is the same: long-term commitments from established tenants at buildings that had struggled to lease.
What the Largest Manhattan Office Leases of 2025 Tell Us About 2026
Finally, what does 2026 have in store? Pretty much, predicting the future of commercial real estate requires equal parts data analysis and instincts. The largest Manhattan office leases of 2025 left behind a trail of clues about tenant priorities, landlord strategies, and market dynamics, and based on those breadcrumbs, here’s where I think things are headed.
- Renewals Will Continue to Outpace Relocations: Moving costs money, disrupts operations, and forces painful decisions about headcount and space utilization. Tenants who already occupy quality buildings will keep choosing the path of least resistance, especially when landlords offer competitive renewal terms to avoid turnover.
- The Gap Between Class A and Everything Else Will Widen: Trophy and near-trophy buildings absorbed the lion’s share of large-block activity in 2025, and that momentum should carry forward. Older properties without significant capital investment will struggle to compete for creditworthy tenants willing to sign long-term deals.
- Finance and Professional Services Will Remain the Anchor Tenants: Tech leasing makes headlines, but banks, law firms, and asset managers signed the majority of 2025’s largest deals. Expect these sectors to drive large-block demand again in 2026, particularly around Grand Central and the Plaza District.
- Downtown Will Attract Opportunistic Tenants Hunting for Value: Moody’s, Stripe, and NYU proved that Downtown can land major commitments when the product and pricing align. Tenants priced out of Midtown trophy buildings may increasingly look south for comparable quality at lower rents.
- Landlord Patience Will Pay Dividends for Those Who Can Afford It: Several 2025 deals backfilled spaces that sat vacant for four to six years. Owners with strong balance sheets will continue holding out for the right tenant and term rather than chasing short-term occupancy at the expense of long-term value.
So What Does All of This Mean for You?
The largest Manhattan office leases of 2025 tell a clear story: the tenants with money and conviction stopped waiting. They signed, committed, and locked in terms while leverage still tilted in their favor.
Does that mean the office market is back to 2019? Not quite. Vacancy rates remain stubborn, sublease space keeps lurking, and plenty of buildings are staring down some hard conversations with their lenders. But the top end of the market seems to have found its footing.
Here’s the practical takeaway if you’re a tenant weighing your options: quality product commands commitment, landlords will deal for the right credit and term, and the window for aggressive negotiating hasn’t closed yet. The tenants who did their homework in 2025 walked away with favorable deals. The ones who kept kicking the can probably watched their leverage shrink.
Do with that information what you will.
