Cushman & Wakefield announced today that it has successfully arranged some 300,000 square feet of office leasing in the City of White Plains since the fourth quarter of 2016, leading what is the strongest local market in a decade.
The Cushman & Wakefield aggregate is of particular significance as it accounts for nearly 75 percent of White Plains’ 400,000 sf office leasing total during that time, when tracking deals 10,000 sf or greater.
Among the closed leases, Cushman & Wakefield arranged the following CBD office transactions:
- The 192,000-sf lease with New York Life Insurance Co., at 44 South Broadway. Cushman & Wakefield represented both the tenant and the landlord. This was the largest office lease signed in the White Plains CBD since 2006;
- The 29,754-sf Sidney Frank lease at 10 Bank Street. Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenant;
- The 14,911-sf Lowey Dannenberg Cohen & Hart lease, at 44 South Broadway. Cushman & Wakefield represented the landlord; and
- The 11,994-sf Mitsui Plastics, Inc. lease, at 10 Bank Street. Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenant.
In regards to the nearly 200,000-sf lease, “44 South Broadway provided New York Life the unique ability to have four contiguous top floors of a premier Class A property in downtown White Plains,” said Cushman & Wakefield’s Michael McCarthy, who along with colleagues Jay Hruska and Matthew Lisk arranged the market-setting deal and several other of these notable transactions. McCarthy added that New York Life’s relocation to the diversely tenanted property will also bring approximately 500 employees to the CBD, further benefiting local retailers.
Cushman & Wakefield also arranged the following transactions outside the CBD during this highly active period:
- The 35,163-sf Brain and Spine Surgeons of New York lease, at 4 Gannet Drive. Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenant; and
- 14,750-sf lease for Southern Graphic Systems, at 333 Westchester Avenue. Cushman & Wakefield represented the landlord.
The overall momentum is positively impacting the White Plains market.
“In addition to the robust office leasing activity in White Plains we are seeing an unprecedented amount of residential development planned in the downtown area,” said Lisk, who noted that in the White Plains CBD alone — which totals 6 million square feet of office space — several obsolete commercial buildings are coming off the inventory list, scheduled for conversion, with approximately 3,000 new units set to deliver over the next 24-26 months.
“This level of development will enhance the streetscape of the city and likely translate into improved live/work/play real estate opportunities,” Lisk said. “We believe this will bolster office space demand from companies who want to provide their employees with a vibrant walkable environment.”
Coupled with an increase in overall leasing velocity, further depleting available office space, over the last six months the CBD has seen a net removal of close to 1 million square feet.
“This reduction of available inventory is significant,” noted Jim Fagan, Managing Principal and Connecticut and Westchester Market Leader for Cushman & Wakefield. “The shift in fundamentals has caused a pronounced spike in asking rents and a reduction in landlord concessions. This is a bull market and the strongest we have seen since pre-2008.”
As of the end of the first quarter 2017, overall average asking rents in the White Plains CBD are $34.10/sf, with Class A space averaging $35.81/sf.
Cushman & Wakefield also noted that several White Plains office leasing transactions between 25,000 and 90,000 square feet are anticipated to close in the second quarter, which would further tighten the market.
About Cushman & Wakefield
Cushman & Wakefield is a leading global real estate services firm that helps clients transform the way people work, shop, and live. Our 43,000 employees in more than 60 countries help investors optimize the value of their real estate by combining our global perspective and deep local knowledge with an impressive platform of real estate solutions. Cushman & Wakefield is among the largest commercial real estate services firms with revenue of $5 billion across core services of agency leasing, asset services, capital markets, facility services (C&W Services), global occupier services, investment & asset management (DTZ Investors), project & development services, tenant representation, and valuation & advisory. To learn more, visit www.cushmanwakefield.com or follow @CushWake on Twitter.
