Office rents in Midtown moderated as the office market cooled over the summer. The question is will the rents pick up if demand picks up given limited availability. Downtown rents remained firm but with Goldman Sachs' decision to build a new 2,000,000 SF office building, downtown rents should soften as Goldman’s old space gets put on the market. Retail demand remains firm and retail rents are firm. Industrial rents keep rising as former industrial areas are transformed to alternate uses. For example, the Meat Packing district is now a trendy club scene, Hudson Yards is soon to be redesigned for residential and office uses and 125th Street to 133rd Street West of Broadway is being converted to Columbia University Campus North.

• Office, Retail. and Industrial vacancies declined for another month throughout Manhattan . As a result Landlords continue to increase prices and also continue to reduce rental concessions in the form of free rent and the amount of work offered. With little new construction underway and only two new office buildings nearing completion supply will only get tighter unless firms announce downsizing or relocations out of Manhattan
• Industrial space in Manhattan is being removed from inventory in a major way. Whole areas are being transformed such as Hudson Yards and Columbia University North, removing major amounts of industrial space from the market. Other industrial buildings have been converted to alternate uses or are being removed from the market pending building sale or zoning change.
• Madison Square Garden is in talks to move the stadium a block west from its current location. The old MSG would be demolished and replaced with residential, retail and office towers.
• Google is in talks to lease 270,000 SF at 111 Eighth Avenue , the former Port Authority Commerce building. The building contains thousands of web severs and other technology infrastructure.
• St. Paul Travelers is looking to consolidate its 6 offices to one in Midtown. The firm currently has 3 office downtown locations and 3 midtown locations with 600 employees in each office.
• Developer Gary Barnett is scheduled to flip three rental properties from his recent purchase of the Trump Place land on the West Side . Equity Residential is planning to purchase the properties for $816 million.

• No new major properties on the market.

• Donald Trump announced his plans to build two residential towers in Jersey City for $415 million. The project will include 862 condominium units and 23,000 sf of retail space.

• Citigroup leased 250,000 sf at 787 7th Avenue.
• New York City Transit leased 109,000 sf in Long Island City for a Transit Division for the Disabled.
• The Visiting Nurse Services of New York leased 53,000 sf in a new office building on Kings Highway between 14th and 15th Street
• Smart Design leased 40,000 sf at 601 West 26th Street.
• Reis has leased 33,000 sf at 530 Fifth Avenue.
• Publisher Harry N. Abrams expanded to 33,000 sf at 115-123 West 18th Street.
• Grubman Indursky renewed their lease of 25,000 sf at 152 West 52nd Street.
• Translation leased 12,500 sf at 145 West 45th Street.
• AEG Live leased 8,000 sf at 145 West 45th Street.
• Tory by TRB signed a lease for 7,500 sf at 99 Madison Avenue.
• Damon Dash leased 6,000 sf at 1501 Broadway.