March 26, 2024

New York City’s office market is still bruised and battered in the wake of COVID-19, but tech companies driven by artificial intelligence remain an ice pack to the city’s black eye.

In the most recent example, cloud computing provider CoreWeave signed a long-term lease for 17,421 square feet at 33 Whitehall Street, also known as Broad Financial Center, in the Financial District, according to landlord broker CBRE (CBRE). The company will occupy the top floor of the 30-story building, owned by Stawski Partners.

CBRE declined to provide the terms of the lease, but average asking rent in Manhattan’s downtown area was $57.20 per square foot in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to a CBRE report.

“33 Whitehall Street was designed with data centers and trading floors in mind and is a perfect fit for new leading-edge technology,” CBRE’s Jonathan Cope, who represented CoreWeave with Edward Goldman, said in a statement.

Dan Posy and Ian Lipman of JLL (JLL) represented CoreWeave in the transaction, but did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It’s unclear if it’s a new office or relocation for the Roseland, N.J.-based CoreWeave.

CoreWeave is far from the only AI tech firm leasing space in New York City these days. Such companies have leased 900,000 square feet of space in Manhattan since 2019, with 330,000 square feet signed last year alone, according to data from CBRE.

And that hasn’t stopped in 2024. Earlier this month, automation and data management firm UpSlide signed a 10-year, 9,500-square-foot lease at Marx Realty’s 10 Grand Central. The company plans to leave its current home at Rockefeller Center later this year, though the change in lease prices wasn’t disclosed.

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