Cleary Gottlieb Renews for 475,000 Square Feet at Brookfield’s One Liberty
Law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has signed a 20-year lease renewal for 475,000 square feet at One Liberty (formerly One Liberty Plaza), Brookfield Properties’ 2.3-million-square-foot Financial District tower at 1 Liberty Plaza in Manhattan, N.Y. The deal was the largest office lease in Manhattan in April and represents both a long-term recommitment and a 75,000-square-foot downsizing from the firm’s current footprint.
Cleary Gottlieb has been headquartered at the 53-story tower since 1990, when it first leased 450,000 square feet. Then, the firm expanded by 100,000 square feet under a 2007 renewal, bringing its footprint to 550,000 square feet. The new lease takes the firm to 475,000 square feet across the building’s 10 top floors, which have been redesigned as part of the tower’s recent redevelopment.
“We are pleased to recommit to our office in downtown Manhattan with a new space in One Liberty Plaza,” a Cleary Gottlieb spokesperson told Commercial Observer. “In the coming years, we will be moving to higher, completely redesigned floors, which will accommodate our growth and provide a welcoming environment for Cleary lawyers, professional staff and clients.”
This is Cleary’s second long-term renewal at the building. The firm remains One Liberty’s largest tenant, and the lease locks it in through the mid-2040s. Asking rent was not disclosed.
Cleary Gottlieb was represented by Moshe Sukenik and Brian Cohen of Newmark and Mark Weiss and Josh Kuriloff of Cushman & Wakefield. Brookfield was represented in-house by Mikael Nahmias, Dan Roberts and David Caperna.
The renewal lands as Lower Manhattan’s office market posts some of its strongest leasing activity since the pandemic. April leasing in the submarket totaled 571,000 square feet — more than double the five-year monthly average — per CBRE. One Liberty itself is now more than 80% leased with leases reportedly out on another 300,000 square feet. According to Yardi research data, the average full-service equivalent asking rent in Manhattan stood at $69.80 per square foot as of March, up 1.1% in the last 12 months.