Downtown Manhattan comes roaring back after 9/11, pandemic with most office leases in 6 years

A quarter century after 9/11, five years after the worst of the pandemic, Lower Manhattan is back on its feet and read to brawl.

The Downtown Alliance reports the district enjoyed a banner 2025, with more office leasing than in any year since 2019; the population breaking 70,000 for the first time; and apartment conversions gobbling up one after another obsolescent office building.

The leasing trend that started as a trickle through the third quarter turned into a torrent by year’s end. The fourth quarter saw 1.57 million square feet of new deals were completed, bolstering the 2025 total to 4.75 million square feet, double the year before in the district below Chambers Street.

But there might also be movement in the wind that’s not in the business improvement district’s report. The game-changing breakthrough would be a lease for American Express to anchor Two World Trade Center, which would get Larry Silverstein’s long-awaited project off the ground and complete the Trade Center’s planned skyscraper quartet.

 “It’s moving forward,” an insider said told Realty Check. “But after other almost-deals fell through, nobody’s going to say a word until and unless it’s done.”

We’ve reported similar predictions before, “But there’s teeth in it this time,” our source insisted.

Highlights of the Alliance survey include:

* Office vacancy fell to 22.2%, down 2.1% since the end of 2024. Positive absorption got a boost from three mega-deals — Jane Street Capital’s renewal and expansion at 250 Vesey St., BNY Mellon’s 192,915 square-foot deal at One World Trade Center and Moody’s move to 457,730 square feet at 200 Liberty St.

* Tenants new to Downtown  accounted for 592,000 square feet of leasing, five times more than in 2024. Major relocations included the Department of Aging at 14 Wall St., Scale AI’S move to 1 WTC,  Arch Labs’ move to 199 Water St. and Atlantic Pictures at 100 Church St.

* The district’s residential population broke 70,000 — 14,000 more than in 2010 — for the first time. The number will skyrocket with the conversions of dozens of older office buildings, including at 110 Wall St. which will have 1,500 apartments and 222 Broadway with nearly 800 more.

Conversion mania has taken 821,000 square feet of offices off the market in the past few years, the Alliance said.

Meanwhile, several very large office blocks remain up for grabs including at 60 Wall St., where all 1.6 million square feet are on the market.

* In an interesting twist, the MTA is auctioning off 350,000 square feet of air rights above the Fulton Center transit hub, which is underbuilt by zoning.

* Hotel occupancy hit 90%, the highest on record, at 41 properties with nearly 8,000 rooms.

SL Green’s 1185 Sixth Ave, where Carnegie Diner and Joe & the Juice recently opened, is filling up offices as well.

Four new leases totalled nearly 110,00 square feet, bringing the tower to 91% leased.

The largest deal was for patent litigation law firm Groombridge, Wu, Baughman & Stone, which took nearly 43,000 square feet on the entire 37th floor and part of the 36th floor. JLL’s Lisa Kiell and Andrew Coe represented the tenant. A Newmark team including Brian Waterman repped SL Green.

East West Bank is the newest tenant at Rudin’s 345 Park Ave. The California-based institution took 38,000 square feet for its Manhattan headquarters, expanding and consolidating from 485 and 535 Madison Ave.