Leasing at the Top of the Manhattan Office Market: What Luxury Advisory Covers

What luxury means for an office: trophy versus Class A

Neither word is an official grade. Class A is the newest or best-renovated stock, with the lobbies and building systems to match. Trophy is the slice above it: the most prominent towers, with high floors, views and amenity floors. All trophy towers are Class A, but only a few Class A buildings count as trophy. Class A, B and C sets out how the letters get assigned.

What the extra rent pays for is daylight and a view, shared amenity and conference floors, newer mechanical systems, and an owner with the means to fund an allowance. It does not make the office bigger: each person still needs the same floor area, so every seat carries the premium.

How a top-tier landlord vets a tenant

Class A landlords tend to work from longer lease forms written more firmly in their favor, ask for larger security deposits, and quote rent on square footage with a heavier loss factor. Expect a request for financials early, and expect the deposit or letter of credit to be sized from them. Years of statements bring the ask down. A young company on a recent raise is asked for more.

Advice at this stage is mostly preparation. A well-organized financial package goes in with the proposal, and the first number on security is treated as an opening position. Have your attorney review the security article and any guarantee before you sign.

What is negotiated at this level

• Free rent. Usually first to move, since it costs the landlord income for a stretch without lowering the signed rent that becomes the comparable for the next floor.
• The improvement allowance. Strong on a raw floor, weak on a finished one, where it can sometimes be argued as a furniture credit.
• Security. The amount, whether it burns down, who signs any guarantee and the notice required before leaving.
• Options. Renewal, expansion and a right of first offer on adjacent space, each exercised by written notice inside a fixed window.

These move furthest when the landlord knows you hold a real alternative, including a well-run building one class down.

Delivery, and which submarkets hold this stock

A custom floor typically takes 10 to 16 weeks to build. Nomad's construction management team coordinates the design, the filings, the landlord's approvals and the contractor, and gets a contractor's estimate on the test fit before signing, which is what shows whether the allowance is enough.

The tower stock sits in Midtown, Manhattan's traditional corporate core, around Bryant Park, and in Hudson Yards, which our guide calls the trophy submarket. The Midtown floors we list are below. For the same tier in every submarket, see the highest price band we publish.