Tech companies gobble up office space
- Erica Pandey, author of Axios Finish Line
Facebook leased a whopping 730,000 square feet in Manhattan's iconic Farley building in 2020. Photo: Ben Hider/Getty Images
The pandemic-induced shift to remote work has pushed Corporate America to rethink the need for office space.
By the numbers: The signing of new leases and the renewals of existing leases fell 36% in 2020, compared with 2019, according to a new report from the commercial real estate firm CBRE, shared exclusively with Axios.
But, but. but: The pandemic won't kill the office.
As I've reported, the same tech companies that were first to send workers home — and tell them they could stay home forever if they wanted — are signing big leases in big cities.
- For example, Amazon is adding 900,000 square feet of office space in New York City, Phoenix, Dallas, Detroit, San Diego and Denver. And Facebook is expanding its New York footprint with 730,000 additional square feet in midtown Manhattan.
- The CBRE report bears out this trend: Tech companies were the leaders in signing and renewing leases in 2020, accounting for 24% of leasing activity by square footage.
New York seems to be doing fine, too.
- Manhattan swept up 20 of the 100 biggest leases of 2020, which came out to 6 million square feet.
- D.C. was in second place with 4.9 million square feet.
- And Seattle took a distant third with 2.2 million square feet.
- The Bay Area snagged eighth place with 915,000 square feet leased in Oakland.
Go deeper: More tech companies plan to let workers stay remote post-pandemic