Good and Bad News for Office Leasing
Commercial Observer
Connecting and informing industry leaders of trends and individuals defining the global commercial real estate landscape
Office leasing in major U.S. markets is all over the place right now, with signs of recovery heading into 2024 and signs of major distress left over from the last few years. Take a 550,000-square-foot lease by Bank of America in Jersey City as a sign of recovery. It’s the only new office lease of at least 500,000 square feet in New Jersey in the past decade. (Yes, really.) But then drive three hours or so south, and the D.C. office market continues to take a major pounding from vacancies.
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— Tom Acitelli, Deputy Editor
Bank of America Inks 550K-SF Lease at BGO’s Jersey City Office Tower
There’s plenty of gloomy news out there at the moment, but an extra large lease signing rounded out 2023 on a positive note, and broke a leasing record in the process. Bank of America has signed a 15-year lease to take 550,000 square feet at BGO’s Newport Tower in Jersey City, the companies told Commercial Observer. The transaction, which spans 21 floors of the 36-story building at 525 Washington Boulevard, represents the only new lease over 500,000 square feet signed in New Jersey in the last 10 years. The bank has a tentative move-in date of the first quarter of 2026 after inking the lease on Dec. 12.
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Fannie Mae Exiting 713K-SF DC Lease Early
In yet another blow to the beleaguered Downtown D.C. office market, Fannie Mae is reportedly leaving its Washington, D.C., headquarters at Midtown Center five years earlier than expected. Carr Properties has listed 720,000 square feet of space available at 1100 15th Street NW beginning in June 2029, Bisnow first reported — not much more than the government-backed multifamily agency signed for in 2019. The lending agency paid $37.7 million to rent 713,000 square feet in the building over a 15-year term, which it said at the time would save taxpayers $341 million compared with its prior headquarters expenses.
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