{"id":395348,"date":"2026-11-05T23:16:15","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T23:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/395348\/"},"modified":"2026-11-05T23:16:15","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T23:16:15","slug":"new-york-office-market-leaders-on-talent-retention-affordability-and-ai-commercial-observer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/395348\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Office Market Leaders On Talent Retention, Affordability and AI \u2013 Commercial Observer"},"content":{"rendered":"

The movers and shakers of New York City\u2019s office market converged upon Rudin<\/a>\u2019s 3 Times Square on Wednesday for Commercial Observer\u2019s 2026 State of Office forum. Despite the competitive nature of their business, the gathered landlords, brokers and executives seemed almost convivial. The warm atmosphere was understandable, fostered by a scorching hot 2026 office market<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The gathering, kick-started by Hannah Rosenberg, senior analyst of portfolio management at U.S. Logistics Partners<\/a>, was a victory lap for 2026 successes \u2014 record rents, a booming technology industry, months of leasing momentum and new supply lows \u2014 yet sour notes of rising interest rates and declining affordability tempered celebrations.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO: \u200dCoral Gables, Fla., Spends $24M to Expand City Hall\u200d<\/a><\/p>\n

The balance between the boom time and challenges ahead was perhaps best described by Bruce Mosler, chairman of Cushman & Wakefield<\/a>\u2019s global brokerage and moderator of the forum\u2019s first panel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in a place that we haven\u2019t been for a long time, a very healthy place in New York, and now the spillover from everything that\u2019s happening in Class A is affecting the lease-up in Class B, and even parts of downtown,\u201d Mosler said. \u201cWith that said, we also have rising interest rates, and we have inflation on the horizon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mosler\u2019s introductory conversation with Bill Rudin, co-executive chairman of Rudin, and Edward Forst, administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration<\/a>, covered familiar ground for office market observers. The best offices are filling up, the industry veterans agreed, and New York City remains a magnet for talent. Just look at 350 Park Avenue, Rudin\u2019s 1.9 million-square-foot trophy tower<\/a> with hedge fund Citadel<\/a>, or at Rudin\u2019s 32 Avenue of the Americas property.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFrankly, the space was sitting for a significant time,\u201d Rudin said. \u201cIn the last six months, we have signed a lease for 100,000 feet, and we have a 200,000-foot lease out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BillBill Rudin (right) speaks on a panel with Edward Forst (left) and Bruce Mosler at the Commercial Observer State of Office Forum. PHOTO: Greg Morris<\/p>\n

In addition to announcing the appointment of Cushman & Wakefield\u2019s Mark Weiss to become GSA\u2019s public buildings commissioner<\/a>, Forst shared the federal government\u2019s mission to up the office occupancy of its top 24 agencies to at least 60 percent. While he cast doubt on the agencies\u2019 ability to achieve that legal mandate by year\u2019s end, there will be ample opportunities for deal-making as hundreds of thousands of federal office leases come up for renewal in New York City over the next few years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The trio\u2019s conversation continued to circle back to New York City\u2019s ability to attract talent \u2014 including talented folks like legendary songwriter Paul Anka, whom Rudin ran into and secured a selfie with on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompanies want to be where the talent is, and the talent is here,\u201d Rudin said. \u201cNow, is that a God-given right? Absolutely not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next came the day\u2019s keynote panel, Inside the Office Deal of the Year, in which Dino Fusco, chief operating officer at Silverstein Properties<\/a>, discussed the machinations and implications of American Express<\/a>\u2019 2 World Trace Center deal. The panel was moderated by Jonathan Mechanic, Fried Frank<\/a>\u2019s chairman of real estate.<\/p>\n

The message behind the financial giant\u2019s 2 million-square-foot commitment<\/a> was loud and clear to Fusco: Lower Manhattan is strong. Fusco argued that the area\u2019s office vacancies, a years-long weakness, are now a magnet for tenants pushed out of Midtown.<\/p>\n

Fusco and Mechanic discussed the downtown area\u2019s relatively recent cultivation as a 24\/7 community able to attract a younger workforce. Fusco used the example of consultant firm McKinsey & Company<\/a> moving down to 3 World Trade Center<\/a> eight years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey moved to 3 World Trade Center because the people they want to hire to work very long hours are the 22- to 35-year-olds,\u201d Fusco said. \u201cThose folks, these days \u2014\u00a0my children make up that workforce \u2014 want to live and work and have fun in the same neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Praise for Lower Manhattan flowed into the following panel, titled From Reset to Rebound, in a forward-looking conversation moderated by Jonathan W. Knipe, co-chair of real estate at Cozen O\u2019Connor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dan Birney, RXR<\/a>\u2019s senior vice president and director of leasing, said the company\u2019s Financial District office tower at 32 Old Slip is on track for about 350,000 square feet of leasing volume this year. The momentum there and throughout Lower Manhattan came as a welcome surprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have not done a significant deal there since pre-COVID,\u201d Birney said. He added that prebuilds are the market\u2019s hot-ticket item, particularly in Midtown South, and he\u2019ll have his eye on office traction along Brooklyn\u2019s waterfront next year.<\/p>\n

Office rents will continue to rise at pace with the rebound, said Peter Riguardi, chairman and president of JLL<\/a>\u2019s New York region. That doesn\u2019t mean building will get any cheaper, said David Levinson, chairman and CEO of L&L Holding Company<\/a>, even with helpful tax abatements.<\/p>\n

\"DavidDavid Levinson speaks at the Commercial Observer State of Office Forum. PHOTO: Greg Morris<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a union city, it costs a ton of money, and it\u2019s a very heavy bureaucracy,\u201d Levinson said. \u201cI build outside of New York City. What I build in Miami in 20 months would blow everybody\u2019s mind in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fourth panel of the event, Leading Workplace Trends, saw Josh Winefsky, partner at HSF Kramer<\/a>, questioning panelists on the modern amenities that actually attract tenants and talent.<\/p>\n

Despite the current market being filled with tight move-in timelines, David Goldstein, Savills<\/a>\u2019 New York tri-state region president, said occupiers are starting to move toward long-term planning as space becomes scarce, in what he called \u201ca more scientific approach to labor and location strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rising rents also promote the use of coworking, prebuilt spaces and flexible lease structures for tenants, said Chris Roth, chief operating officer at Global Holdings<\/a> Management Group.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA good old-fashioned blend and extend is a great way to keep the lights on while getting some good rent, reducing the amount of capex that goes out the door, and keeping everybody happy,\u201d Roth said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Sage<\/a> CEO Jonathan Iger has found midsize companies\u2019 decisions remain largely driven by C-suite preferences, a \u201cflight to experience\u201d is turning his focus from amenities to high-quality service.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reverdie Group<\/a>\u2019s founder Aisling Gregory shared her team\u2019s efforts at the Woolworth Building to curate hospitality and brand partnerships, activating spaces at limited capital cost and creating a \u201cself-containing, rich ecosystem.\u201d That same approach was reflected in IBM<\/a>\u2019s consolidation of 10 office locations into a single site<\/a> at 1 Madison Avenue, said Jennifer Stewart, IBM\u2019s head of global real estate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Next up, executives including Peter Brindley, head of real estate at Elecor Properties<\/a>, and Gerry Lifrieri, senior director of international real estate at Omnicom Group<\/a>, convened to discuss the looming 2026-to-2028 rollover wave in a panel titled The Great Lease Reset. The panel was moderated by Danielle Lesser, partner and chair of business litigation at Morrison Cohen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"JenniferJennifer Stewart speaks on a panel at the Commercial Observer State of Office Forum. PHOTO: Greg Morris<\/p>\n

For owners of Class B offices, like Michael T. Cohen, principal at Williams Equities<\/a>, and Ryan Kass, executive vice president at Empire State Realty Trust<\/a>, today\u2019s market has proven that Class B is far from obsolete, but the challenge ahead lies in delivering improvements while remaining financially sound.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt requires a real measure of conservatism and a very long-term approach,\u201d Cohen said. \u201cBut you\u2019ve got to make sure the money\u2019s there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lifrieri said Omnicom Group is seeking shorter terms and more flexibility, and that means fewer 10-year leases.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know where the directions of the market are going, and we need to be nimble,\u201d Lifrieri said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The morning\u2019s penultimate discussion, Reposition, Repurpose or Redevelop, was moderated by CO\u2019s own editor-in-chief, Max Gross. The choice between the three R\u2019s comes down to the selectivity of capital, said Kevin Hoo, managing partner at Cove Property Group<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a capital perspective, the investable universe is significantly shrunk,\u201d Hoo said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you time the market really well, even at the bottom end of the spectrum, there will be reasons to reposition and do well, but I think we\u2019re sticking to our knitting,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Brian Steinwurtzel, CEO and principal at GFP Development<\/a>, is finding opportunities in the broken capital stacks and \u201czombie buildings,\u201d provided equity and debt holders are willing to transact.<\/p>\n

Keith DeCoster, vice president of market data and policy at the Real Estate Board of New York<\/a>, argued that more owners are willing to put more capital into buildings today, pulling some office buildings out of conversion considerations. Steinwurtzel said such efforts depend on the rents.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have buildings that can be repositioned, highly amenitized, and the rents that you can achieve are well north of $80, then the tenant improvement packages to create gorgeous space are worth doing. There\u2019s capital that will support it,\u201d Steinwurtzel said. \u201cThe biggest challenge is when you have rents that are below $80 a foot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adaptive reuse is a growing part of the KPF<\/a> portfolio, said Andrew Werner, director at KPF. Panelists agreed that adding air, light and access to the outdoors is crucial to repositioning a building. Dynamic workplaces for hybrid schedules are in demand, as well, said Keith Fordsman, senior project executive at Gilbane<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re reprogramming to expand capacity within the same square footage, or they\u2019re looking to accomplish a renovation and end up moving assets,\u201d Fordsman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Grossman welcomed Steven Rotter, executive vice chairman at Newmark<\/a>, for the forum\u2019s closing keynote, which largely focused on the AI wave. While AI leases still only account for 12 percent of the market, Rotter said, these companies are growing exponentially.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"KevinKevin Hoo speaks on a panel at the Commercial Observer State of Office Forum. PHOTO: Greg Morris<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have clients who have zero employees today, will grow to 40 employees in six months, and then call us on a Thursday and say we need 100,000 feet by Tuesday,\u201d Rotter said. \u201cThey\u2019re growing that quickly, and the market is so crazy in SoHo, West Village, Meatpacking, and it\u2019s created a lot of chaos in the market.\u201d<\/p>\n

While San Francisco is still top dog in the AI industry, Rotter described the West Coast city as a hub for early-stage development, while New York is the preferred spot for maturing companies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

AI tenants want amenities for talent retention and proximity to the venture capital their industry thrives on, Rotter said, and their demands are leading to bidding wars<\/a> and off-market deals. Brokers have gone so far as to track companies\u2019 fundraising to find \u201cshadow opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rotter doesn\u2019t believe AI\u2019s rapid growth represents a fragile bubble, but he said high valuations don\u2019t always mean a tech company is creditworthy. But what about AI\u2019s disruption to Rotter\u2019s own industry?<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople joke with us, \u2018Is AI going to take over real estate?\u2019\u201d Rotter said. \u201cI tell them that unless ChatGPT can bully and negotiate rents better with landlords, then hopefully our jobs are safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emily Davis can be reached at edavis@commercialobserver.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The movers and shakers of New York City\u2019s office market converged upon Rudin\u2019s 3 Times Square on Wednesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395349,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[13500,118301,111834,28325,142333,13502,127828,93072,40256,33629,26045,3624,68748,142334,142335,106973,60416,2184,132736,142336,69507,142337,142338,93078,38987,142339,93080,54099,142340,142341,142332,103535,69512,138906,9,11,10,83858,10361,15165,142342,7928],"class_list":["post-395348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-2-world-trade-center","tag-3-times-square","tag-3-world-trade-center","tag-32-avenue-of-the-americas","tag-32-old-slip","tag-350-park-avenue","tag-aisling-gregory","tag-andrew-werner","tag-bill-rudin","tag-brian-steinwurtzel","tag-bruce-mosler","tag-channel","tag-chris-roth","tag-dan-birney","tag-danielle-lesser","tag-david-goldstein","tag-david-levinson","tag-development","tag-dino-fusco","tag-edward-forst","tag-event-recap","tag-gerry-lifrieri","tag-hannah-rosenberg","tag-jonathan-iger","tag-jonathan-mechanic","tag-jonathan-w-knipe","tag-josh-winefsky","tag-keith-decoster","tag-keith-fordsman","tag-kevin-hoo","tag-leases-1-madison-avenue","tag-mark-weiss","tag-max-gross","tag-michael-t-cohen","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-peter-brindley","tag-peter-riguardi","tag-ryan-kass","tag-steven-rotter","tag-woolworth-building"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}