As Brookfield Signs Big Lease with Macquarie Group, CEO Anticipates Strong Rent Growth for “Quality” New York Office Space

Just as Brookfield Properties is seeing strong rent growth ahead for “quality” New York office space, the global alternative asset management powerhouse announced Monday it had signed a major 222,000-square-foot lease with global investment bank Macquarie Group.

The 222,000 square feet will be at Brookfield’s 660 Fifth Ave. property and will serve as Macquarie’s America’s regional headquarters in the “redeveloped Class A” Midtown office tower, Brookfield announced. 

The big lease deal with Macquarie comes as Brookfield CEO Bruce Flatt, writing to investors in a letter accompanying Brookfield’s first quarter financial results, said… “rents are going higher. Our experience today in New York is that for quality office buildings, rents have increased more than 30% from pre-pandemic levels.”

Brookfield is not only active in acquiring commercial real estate, but is also active in real estate development. Flatt warned investors of inflation in the price of building materials. 

The lease announcement comes as Brookfield nears completion of a $400 million redevelopment of the iconic Fifth Avenue tower, featuring the re-cladding of the façade in thermally insulated 11×19 foot single-pane glass units, a new lobby, new elevators, state-of-the-art infrastructure, and oversized terraces with greenspace.

Macquarie was represented by a JLL leasing team including Peter Riguardi, Frank Doyle, Joseph Messina, Steven Rotter, Cynthia Wasserberger, Jessica Berkey, William McGarry, Carlee Palmer, and Kristina Kopans.

Brookfield Properties was represented in-house by Mikael Nahmias, Hayley Shoener and PJ Massey, and by a Cushman & Wakefield team of Bruce Mosler, Josh Kuriloff, Ethan Silverstein, John Santora, Matthias Li, Nicholas Dysenchuk, and Howard Cross.