The iconic 1,030,000 square foot IBM building at 590 Madison Avenue sold for just over $1,000 a square foot in the November of 2025. This is a pre - COVID level price which should be a good sign for class A office building sales. Other recent sales have not been quite at that level. The 300,000 6 East 43rd Street sold in October of 2025 for $135 million, or $450 a square foot. It may be repositioned for residential use (CO 10/14/25). In August of 2025 the 283,465 square foot office building at 3 East 54th Street sold for $188 million, or $663 a square foot. At the same time, the 382,500 square foot 623 Fifth Avenue sold for $218 million, or $569 a square foot. (CO 9/9/25). In September of 2025 the 993,905 RSF 1177 Avenue of the Americas sold for $571 million, or $611 a square foot (CO 9/9/25). In April 6 East 43rd Street, a well maintained modern 300,000 square foot skyscraper, sold for $466.00 a square foot. It will probably be converted into apartments. (CO 5/27-25) The February 2025 sale (to B & H) of the 307,000 square foot 333 West 34th Street was for $150 million, or $488 a square foot. Brookfield Properties had paid $255 million in 2018. (CO 3/25/25). I wonder who did the due diligence on that sale!!! The January 2025 sale of the 1.2 Million square foot 2 Park Avenue was for $360 million, or $300 a square foot. The seller had paid $519.4 million for it in 2007 (CoStar 1/9/25). In February, 2025, a pair of buildings (229 West 36th Street and 256 West 38th Street), with a combined 268,635 square feet, sold for $50 million, or a very low $186 a square foot (CO 3/11/25). In January of 2025, 1370 Broadway, a 275,000 square foot office building sold for $76 million, or $274 a square foot. Invesco had paid $186 million for it in 2014. Yikes. (CO 1/28/25). Also in January, 2025, 470 Park Avenue South sold for $147.5 million, or $491.00 a square foot, at a $100 million loss for the seller who had purchased it in 2018 (CO 1/14/25). In October of 2024 292 Madison, a 26 story art deco tower at 40th and Madison, sold for “around” $40 million, or $450 a square foot. In June of 2024 180 Maiden Lane ( a 1.2 million square foot glass tower in the Financial District) sold for $247.00 a square foot. The 165,000 square foot Garment District building at 240 West 35th Street traded at the same time for $30 million, or $181.00 a square foot, having sold for $108 million in 2016 (CO 7/16/24). Yikes. In August of 2024 the 51,853 square foot building at 152 West 36th Street sold for $23.8 million, or $458 a square foot. The buyer is going to add onto the building and market it for storage. (CO 9/24/24). In May of 2024, the 220,000 square foot building at 321 West 44th Street sold for $50,000,000, or $227 a square foot. The seller lost an astounding $103,000,000 from its 2018 purchase price. (CO 6/18/24). In March of 2024, the 98,556 square foot 129 West 29th Street sold for $314.00 a square foot (CO 4/23/24). 529 Fifth Avenue, a 254,123 square foot building, sold for $105M, or $400 per square foot, in March of 2023 (CO 4/4/23). The 684,500 square foot 175 Water Street closed in October of 2022 for $252 million, or $368.00 a square foot (CO 10/18/22). That would be way below the cost of land plus construction.
Air Rights + Construction Costs
Air rights, which is a complicated concept, can go for as much as $600 a buildable square foot (Christ Church on Park Avenue) but may average about $200. In 2015, the developers of the Dream Hotel paid the owners of the Neil Simon theatre $450.00 a square foot for their air rights (CO 8/5/15). Extell paid $475.00 a square foot for the Helen Hayes Theatre's air rights at 1710 Broadway in the fall of 2016, with Howard Hughes' paying $438 at the same time for their South Street site (TRD 12/16). Real Estate Weekly reported on October 25th of 2017 that the City Planning Commission was proposing that Chelsea air rights be sold at $500.00 a square foot....with the current average being $297.00 a square foot.
Construction Costs
The average price to build in New York City per square foot in 2025 is $534. This is not including land and other soft costs (CO 7/29/26).
Residential Condominium Prices per square foot
109 East 79th Street, which is a new condominium on the Upper East Side, was able to get nearly $4,000 a post Covid square foot (REW 10/5/22). The average price per square foot for a new residential (Manhattan) condominium in February of 2017, though, was $2,209 (RD 2017 DB). The median price for all Manhattan apartments (co-ops and condos) was reported to be $900,000 (C 1/9/17( which is down quite a bit from the previous year ($1.2 million REW 1/16/16), with the average price for a Manhattan apartment hitting $2.05 million during the first quarter of 2016 (TRD 4/16). Co-ops are often much lower in price, and averaged at $1,178.00 a square foot. The most expensive condos that have recently sold went for more than $8,000 psf (at One 57 and close to that at 432 Park Avenue / the record sale for 2016 was PH 96 at 432 Park Avennue, which sold for $87.7 million, or $10,623 a square foot)).
The most expensive sales per square foot for a very limited number of apartments are approaching $10,000 (REW 1/11/17). 15 CPW #38A traded for $9,838 psf on 6/23/16. The highest deals per square foot at One 57 were realized for the 82nd floor, which traded for $8,990 a square foot, and the PH, which sold for...$100 million, or $9,090 a square foot (in January of 2015). Other benchmark sales have included 150 West 26th Street: $7,574, 15 CPW: $7,238, 25 Columbus Circle: $5,526, 18 Gramercy Park: $5,072, 1 Bond Street: $4,966, 421 Hudson Street: $4,745, 100 CPS: $4,368, 400 West 12th Street: $4,227 and at number ten... 132 East 65th Street: $4,164...212 Fifth is currently asking between $2,500 to $4,500 a square foot, which is probably a good range for comparison...(REW 9/16/15).
Residential Rental Buildings
The average rent for a 1-bedroom apartment in Manhattan, NY is currently $4,090 (Zumper 10/17/22). This is a 14% increase compared to the previous year. COVID had knocked the average apartment rent down to $2,843.00 a month (3/17/21 REW). In 2016, the average price for a rental apartment in Manhattan was $3,999 (REW 9/14/16). The average "luxury" rental in February of 2016 went for an astounding $9,962 per month (TRD 4/16). There is currently an excess of inventory, according to some rental brokers. although overall vacany rates are at 1.42%. The average studio rental was $2,675. For a one bedroom: $3,350. For a two bedroom: $4,647. For a three bedroom: $5,500. For NEW Developments, the average studio rental (January 2017) was $3,200, for a 1 bedroom $4,062, for a 2 bedroom $6,283 and for a 3 bedroom $14,667) (TRD 1/17). As long as rent control and rent stabilization remain, these high rental prices will be unlikely to go down.
Manhattan Parking Spaces
In March of 2017 a garage package went on sale with spaces going for $65, 326. The Commerical Observer (3/1/17) reported that spaces can sell for up to $175,000...which is no
surprise. Parking spaces rent from $350 up to $1,500 per month in prime residential neighborhoods. The city limits the number of new garage spaces that can be built / included in new buildings, which is why spaces cost so much.
Longstreet & Associates Inc Licensed Real Estate Brokers and Consultants Equal housing / office and retail space for all 59 East 54th Street, Suite 64, New York, NY 10022 212-980-6285 WalterLDeane@aol.com
Prime Land Sales/ Empty Lot Pricing
To purchase a viable development site (an empty lot or a series of vacated buildings) is not easy, as often the developers who put together the assemblage are planning to do the development. Having said this…a recent sale was for a series of emptied tenements on Second Avenue and East 71st Street. Prime Upper East Side, especially with the prospective residential condominium having a marketable 242 East 70th Street address). The +/- 100,417 square foot potential construction site (with a now required affordable component) sold for $41.6 million in January of 2025, or $415.00 per buildable square foot (CO 2/18/25).
The Hotel Business
Between COVID prices and recent laws that will make the construction of new hotels virtually impossible, now is probably a good time to purchase a hotel. In August of 2025 the 113 key Nine Orchard sold for $92 million, or $814,000 per room. This seems high to me (CO 9/2/25)…. In February of 2025, the 169 key Hilton Garden Inn on West 28th Street sold for $49.9 million, or $295,000 per room (CO 3/11/25). In January of 2025, The Kimpton Event sold for $175 million, or $600,000 per key (CO 1/28/25). In September of 2024, the 697 room Maxwell at 541 Lexington sold for a very reasonable $200,860 a key (CO 10/29/24). In August of 2023 the best - location Park Lane Hotel sold for $623 million, or nearly $1 million per room, which is very high, but as there are fewer 5 star hotels than there were 5 + years ago, the new owners should be able to get top rates per room (CO 9/5/23). Another recent high priced sale was for the 97 room Sixty Soho, which sold for 1.1 million per key (CO 3/21/23). The Renaissance Hotel at 2 Times Square sold in October of 2023 for $165 M, or $520,504 per room (CO 10/17/23) which also seems high. The 655 room Former Marriott East Side at 525 Lexington Avenue, which is a beautiful pre-war tower, sold in February, 2023 for $153.4 million, or $234,198 per room. This was a loss $117 million form a previous sale. The 200 room Muse Hotel sold in September of 2022 for $49.5 million, or $247,500 per room (CO 10/18/22). The 226 room Holiday Inn at 125 West 26th Street sold in June of 2022 for $83 million, or $367,000 a key (NYP 7/1/22). The 4 star Doubletree at 569 Lexington Avenue sold for $146 million, or $191,000 per room. The owners took a $186 million loss from what they had paid. (RD 1/7/22). A very overpriced sale in January of 2023 was for the Mr. C Seaport, which sold for $60 million, or just under $1 million per key for the 66 room downtown hotel (CO 1/24/23). A Spring 2021 COVID sale of the 600 Watson Hotel in Hell’s kitchen was for $175 million, or $291,666.00 a key, or room. (CO 4/13/21). This probably was a good value. In July, 2021, the COVID sale of the historic Lexington Hotel was for $185 million, or $255,000.00 per key. The hotel had been closed, and had been recently refurbished. 2021 New York City per hotel room average revenue has been just $95.00 (CO 7/27/21). The highest sale price of late for a Manhattan hotel was for the famed Saint Regis, which sold in late 2019 to the Qatari Fund for $310 million, or an astounding $1.351 million per room. This was a way overpriced transaction, as was the 270 room W Hotel / Union square sale, which also closed in the fall of 2019 for $206 million, which is an astounding $762,962 per room. The price of hotel rooms, though in general, has declined by 30 - 50 % in the past two years, and so finally the price to purchase hotels has come down as a result, which was needed. The Viceroy on West 57th Street sold in 2018 for $41 million, having traded for 148.5 million in 2013, making the current price per room a reasonable $170,000 (NYP, 1-/15/18).
The prices of constructing a five-star hotel are almost one and a half times more than a similar sized office building, with the costs ranging between $677 and $871 per square foot (Pro Est 6/1/21).
New York City had 58.3 million visitors in 2017 but only has 115,369 hotel rooms....with average room rates being $273.00 (RD 2017 DB). A recent hotel development site at 145 West 47th Street sold for $713 a buildable square foot (4/17). A recent and smart hotel deal would be Sam Chang's 140 West 28th Street, which went for $230,000 a key (CO 1/10/18). Hotel properties, which recently were selling at record prices ($2.04 million per key at the Baccarat, $1.4 million per key for the Mandarin Oriental hotel in the Time Warner Center ), should keep going down in price. The average price per key in 2016 was a crazy $500,9078. In December of 2016, the 618 room Stewart Hotel sold for $351,132 a room (CO 1/4/17). The Elysee, a four star property on East 54th Street off of Park Avenue, traded for $55 million, or $550,000 per room, in the winter of 2016 (REW 2/10/16). The most recent big sale was the Waldorf, in October of 2014, which traded for $1.9 billion, or $1.4 million per room...with every one of them needing major renovation.
No owner is going to make any money from most of these deals in the months and years to come. The Hilton Garden Inn in Chelsea traded in the summer of 2016 for $405,000 per room (REW 7/20/16). The 2015 sale of the Palace Hotel was for $885,588. per room...and the 563 key London Hotel sold for $382 million shortly thereafter, or $678,000 per room. In October 2012, the sale of the 665 room Manhattan Hotel (formerly the Sheraton Manhattan), was for $275 million, or $413,533 a room. In August of 2012, the Essex House on Central Park South sold for $375 million, or $736,738 a key--in 2005 the same property had sold for $423 million, which means that a $48 million loss was taken. The 775 room Helmsley Hotel on 42nd Street sold in April of 2011 for $570 million, or $735,483 a key. The more modest Holiday Inn Express at 15 West 45th Street also sold in March of 2011, for $354,000 a key. The Royalton and Morgan Hotels traded for $496,453 a key.
In October 2012, the Setai Fifth Avenue was sold for $229 million, or $1.070 million per room--again, way too much. Finally, the Milford Plaza was reported in April 2013 to have sold for $325 million, or $250,000 per room, which is a hotel sale that should actually make some money for its new buyers. At the close of 2013, The Park Lane, which is arguably in the best hotel location in the city, sold for $660 million, or $1.090 per key (income was said to be $20 million a year there for the Helmsleys....so not a great return, but a better price than the over one billion dollars that the estate had wanted several years ago. The 300 room Standard, which traded in February , 2014 for $400 million, or $1.333 million per room...
Longstreet & Associates Inc Licensed Real Estate Brokers and Consultants Equal housing / office and retail space for all 59 East 54th Street, Suite 64, New York, NY 10022 212-980-6285 WalterLDeane@aol.com