Nearly a quarter mile above the bustling streets of Manhattan, One World Trade Center has opened its highest floors for lease—marking a major chapter in Lower Manhattan’s ongoing evolution.
A decade after the building first welcomed tenants, the 89th and 90th floors are now hitting the market, offering a rare opportunity in New York City’s competitive office space scene.
Future occupants will tower above the entire World Trade Center complex, directly overlooking the solemn 9/11 Memorial pools, etched into the footprints of the fallen Twin Towers.
Even with the deep symbolism of the location, the decision is driven by commercial logic. The key question on the table: how much will someone be willing to spend to claim space at what’s being promoted as the tallest available office space in the Western Hemisphere?
The Durst Organization, a family-owned firm and one of the project’s lead developers, is seeking rents that reach up to $160 per square foot—a price tag rarely seen downtown and more in line with prestigious Midtown office towers. The company is betting this premium offering could attract high-end financial tenants back to the area.
“It’s certainly likely to be something in finance,” said Eric Engelhardt, who oversees leasing the top floors for Durst. “Maybe it’s a venture capital that invests in these technology companies that we have all over the building.”
After a brief two-elevator journey lasting just over a minute, prospective tenants arrive to sweeping views from the 46,000 square feet of space, offering a full-circle look at the cityscape. The view soars above the helicopter lines, capturing distant ocean views and the Statue of Liberty in miniature.
One World Trade Center, jointly developed by Durst and The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, now boasts a 95% occupancy rate across its 3.1 million square feet. Current tenants include Conde Nast under Advance Magazine Publishers Inc., marketing tech firm Wunderkind Corp., and investment group Energy Capital Partners.
This marks a shift from the tower’s earlier days, when major financial players such as Morgan Stanley filled its floors. Many of those firms have since migrated to Midtown’s glimmering developments like Hudson Yards, where they now anchor glass-clad high-rises near Grand Central.
Meanwhile, the Financial District has been reinvented. Steel and glass now dominate where limestone once stood. Former trading floors have given way to luxury apartments. Upscale retail destinations such as Brookfield Place and the Oculus attract both shoppers and commuters, linking Lower Manhattan to transit networks including those to New Jersey.
Though office availability citywide remains above pre-COVID levels, premium spaces are seeing renewed interest as companies seek to bring teams back on site. Manhattan office leasing activity jumped 46% between January and April compared to the same stretch last year, tightening supply. Downtown Manhattan just logged its best quarter for office leasing since before the pandemic.
“Midtown now is so tight and so expensive that some tenants are forced to look back Downtown,” said Howard Fiddle, vice chairman at CBRE Group Inc. and co-head of its New York City Agency Department. He noted that rising costs are pushing even well-known firms to reconsider their locations. “Once one does it, more will do it.”
The building’s upper floors haven’t always had traditional office tenants. The 89th floor once hosted a Chinese investment hub intended to support business ties with the country, but the space sat unused and was eventually relinquished by the tenant, a branch of China’s Vantone Holdings.
Above it, the 90th floor was previously occupied by broadcast infrastructure used by television networks to transmit from the skyscraper’s antenna. Thanks to improvements in broadcasting tech, much of that equipment is no longer needed, freeing up valuable square footage for leasing.
{Matzav.com}