IN THE PRESS
Ruth was pleased to be included in two excellent recent articles in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal on different but related subjects. The first was a brilliant piece by Emma Goldberg in the Times discussing the big picture crisis facing Class B landlords through the prism of one such landlord, GFP Real Estate found on the following link.
Ruth was pleased to be quoted in another excellent piece in the Wall Street Journal by Akiko Matsuda and Alexander Saeedy discussing the latest WeWork developments (see the link below). The authors summed up the situation well by stating that WeWork was “testing its leverage” because landlords could incur substantial losses if WeWork ultimately does file for bankruptcy.
Our general counsel Eric Haber, who has extensive experience in bankruptcy law, has been fielding many inquiries from clients and friends regarding the future of WeWork. He was recently quoted in an excellent article by James Nani of Bloomberg Law which is a deep dive into the ramifications of a possible WeWork bankruptcy. A link to the article is below.
Ruth in Bloomberg / Tech’s Retrenchment Hammers Landlords With Glut of Empty Offices.
Ruth in Bloomberg Businessweek / Even Wealthy Landlords Are Skipping Payments on Office Buildings.
Ruth comments in Crain’s New York Business on how older office buildings in NYC will be left behind.
Ruth discussed signs of a coming turnaround: Goldman Sachs Group Inc., based in lower Manhattan, announced this week that employees would return to the office as early as next month.
Ruth in Bloomberg News / Excellent summary on the state of the NYC office market
Below is a link to an excellent article in Bloomberg News that ran on Friday regarding the glut of office space available in Manhattan. The article confirmed much of what we have said about the state of the market. I was quoted in the article as follows:
“The sublet spaces currently on offer at deeply discounted rates is a veritable flood of biblical proportions, with more likely to come online soon.”
The article made several other key points, including the following:
• There has been a 36% increase in sublet space in Midtown and an 80% surge in sublet space in the downtown financial district.
• Average asking rents in lower Manhattan fell to $61.59 per square foot in February. Further, the asking rents for sublets are frequently lower, ranging from $30-$60 a foot.
• The increase in sublet space is fueled by companies such as JP Morgan Chase, Uber, Condé Nast, S & P Global and Fitch Ratings. In my view, some of the sublets on offer are not driven by financial distress. Rather, these sublets are based upon anticipated reduced office need due to the rise of remote work.
Decision-making regarding your future offices is fraught with uncertainties at this time. Please feel free to tap our expertise regarding any issues or questions you may have. As always, we represent our clients with creativity, integrity and diligence.
I was quoted in a Bloomberg article discussing the status of (i) the Tiffany sublease on the 57th Street side of Trump Tower and (ii) Fifth Avenue retail space. Just so you don’t get confused while reading, the article correctly notes that our company Wharton Property Advisors is unrelated to Wharton Properties, which is a different company that sublets the Trump space to Tiffany along with S.L. Green.
