Commercial Observer reported that Circle Realty Group closed 37,600 square feet of new leases at 225 West 34th Street, also known as 14 Penn Plaza, against an asking rent of $67 per square foot.
The two largest deals were Bohler Engineering, which expanded from 8,000 to 14,000 square feet and signed a 10-year lease, and cybersecurity firm T&M; USA, which took 14,000 square feet; Commercial Observer said the length of T&M;'s lease was unclear. Those mid-size engineering and cybersecurity tenants are choosing to be near Penn Station at the quoted asking rent. Together, the two deals account for 28,000 square feet.
Circle Realty President Jay Futersak represented his own firm in-house and also represented both of the two largest tenants. That is a reported fact, not a criticism. The practical effect is that the landlord sat on both sides of the pricing conversation for the two largest deals, making the $67 figure the owner's number—and the market's response was signed leases across 37,600 square feet.
The two smaller disclosed leases add 9,614 square feet, but Commercial Observer's account does not state what those tenants agreed to pay. Calibre CPA Group signed a 10-year, 6,100-square-foot lease and is relocating from 462 Seventh Avenue. Fitapelli & Schaffer, a discrimination law firm, is moving from 20 Liberty Street into 3,514 square feet.
The constraint here is not demand. It is the price at which demand converts. Bohler, already in the building, agreed to stay for a decade and add 6,000 square feet. That decision is the clearest evidence in the Commercial Observer report: an existing tenant chose to expand rather than test the market at a new address.
What is not reported is the vacancy before these leases, the net effective rent after concessions, or the building's financing. The $67 asking rent is only a starting point. But at that number, the owner found enough takers to fill 37,600 square feet. The next test is whether lease-up continues at $67 or the remaining space needs a different price.