The new year is shaping up to be an unconventional one for some important U.S. markets as developers adjust to changing labor costs and financing conditions. As always, we lean on CommercialEdge data to ascertain trends around office construction activity throughout the country’s major real estate markets, as well as highlight some of the largest office projects that are estimated to be completed during this year. Make sure to consult our methodology section for a better understanding of how we collect and analyze construction numbers.
Early in 2024, roughly 97 million square feet of office space is currently in various stages of development at the national level — a 28% drop compared to last year’s total. However, the market is looking to circumvent this reduction in demand by converting unoccupied office spaces to other uses, especially living spaces, as reported by RentCafe.
On the topic of office development, Boston stands out both in terms construction volume (measured in total square feet), as well as the share of new office developments within its inventory, due in great part to the strong demand for life science spaces. At the same time, Manhattan is taking a step back in 2024 with a much more modest 3 million square feet in its pipeline, while San Francisco, Seattle and San Diego are witnessing upticks in their development volumes year-over-year. Finally, the Seattle real estate market also looms large on the list of the top 20 largest office deliveries of 2024 with two of its six entries being projects above the 1-million-square-foot mark.
Click on the highlights in the executive summary below to learn more development insights and details on the largest office projects scheduled for completion this year.
Executive Summary
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- Boston construction doubles that of runner-up San Francisco, driven by demand for life science spaces
- Boston, San Diego & Austin set to increase their office stock by more than 5%
- Disney skyscraper tops list of largest office deliveries of 2024
- One quarter of the top 20 largest office spaces under construction this year are Seattle projects
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Head & Shoulders Above the Competition: Demand for Life Science Spaces Drives 14.6MSF Boston Office Pipeline
At the start of 2024, Boston appears to be the most active market for office development across the U.S. — and by a significant margin: With roughly 14.6 million square feet of space under construction — and with life science spaces playing a key role in the market — Boston is expected to deliver more than double the volume of runner-up San Francisco (at 7 million square feet).
In fact, Western markets play an important role in the upper half of the ranking with four entries firmly within the top 10: As the only Western entry outside of California, Seattle landed in third place with a total of 6 million square feet. San Diego followed it in fourth place with 5 million square feet of office space under construction, and the Bay Area’s 4.5 million square feet earned it seventh place.
In fifth and sixth places, respectively, Texas’ Austin and Dallas maintained their dominant positions among Southern markets. Current data shows they share similar volumes of office construction in 2024 with around 4.9 to 5 million square feet each.
Notably, Manhattan only managed to claim ninth place with an estimated 3 million square feet of office projects under development. In this case, delays or the decision to suspend some of the ongoing developments have no doubt been major contributors to this year’s slowdown.
Boston, San Diego & Austin Set to Increase their Office Stocks by 5%+
Given the disproportionally larger office construction volume estimates for Boston throughout 2024, it naturally follows that the Northeastern city would also lead the ranking in terms of inventory percentage growth. Appropriately, nearly 6% of its stock consists of projects currently under development.
Rounding out the top three, San Diego’s 5.1 million square feet and Austin’s 5 million square feet of office space in the pipeline make up 5.4% of the two markets’ stock — an indication of the sustained growth and interest that these two locations continue to attract year after year. Furthermore, of the two, San Diego is the only one with an entry on the list of this year’s largest office deliveries — IQHQ’s 745,000-square-foot RaDD Block 2B, which is scheduled for completion by the first quarter of 2024.
Next, San Francisco’s 7 million square feet of office space under construction represents 4.4% of its stock, making it the fifth-most active market for construction on the list, just behind Nashville.
Meanwhile, approximately 4% of Seattle’s current inventory consists of newly developed office spaces with large workspaces playing an outsized role in the market’s overall performances for this metric. To that end, the five Seattle entries within the list of top office projects to be completed in 2024 make up more than half of its total estimated pipeline.
1.3MSF Disney Skyscraper Tops List of Largest Offices Under Construction
The list of the top 20 largest office projects that are currently in the pipeline reflects some of the shifts in the commercial real estate market. It's worth noting that several important projects on the list are going to be owner occupied buildings — such as Amazon's Tower 1 at Bellevue 600 or Disney's 4 Hudson Square.
Once again, New York City’s contribution to the list of top office deliveries is diminished compared to previous years, both in terms of total properties that made the cut — just two entries in 2024, as opposed to six in 2023 — as well as total square footage, which dropped by 69%.
Nevertheless, the largest of these two projects — the 1.3-million-square-foot 4 Hudson Square — topped our 2024 projected deliveries ranking. Walt Disney (which owns the 22-story building designed by Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill and developed by Silverstein Properties) plans to consolidate its workforce at its new premises the by the end of the first quarter. The property will act as the media company’s new headquarters in Lower Manhattan’s former Printing District, which has recently witnessed a host of conversions to studio and office spaces. In preparation for this move, the media company has put up for sale its First Battery Armory — its iconic, castle-like property at 56 W. 66th St.
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On the opposite coast, developments located in California’s capital are not a common occurrence on yearly top 20 deliveries lists, but the California Department of General Services’ 1.25-million-square-foot Sacramento office space is sure to make an impression, landing in second place. That’s because the Richards Boulevard Office Complex is spread across 17.3 acres in the city’s River District and, upon completion, will include four office towers. Moreover, the buildings have been designed to achieve zero net energy and zero net carbon emissions, and the developer is also seeking LEED Gold Certification. Completion estimates are set for the second quarter of 2024. Building will be owner occupied.
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Not to be outdone, L&L Holding Company’s Terminal Warehouse Redevelopment sits in third place and is the second Manhattan entry in the top 20. Built atop a structure originally developed in 1891, the project added six stories to the property at 261 11th Ave. Upon completion in the closing months of 2024, the property will incorporate 1.2 million square feet of prime office space in West Chelsea; provide direct access to the river, streets and rail lines in the area; and feature a 670-foot-long tunnel with a twin set of rail tracks running through its center.
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Projects in Seattle Market Make Up 25% of 20 Largest Office Deliveries of 2024
The Seattle office market is shaping up to be particularly active in 2024, boasting the highest number of entries within the top 20 largest projects under construction. What’s more, of the five properties featured — which are estimated to add roughly 4 million square feet of Seattle office space to the inventory — three are located in Bellevue, Wash.
In addition, the city is also the home of the largest ongoing construction project in Washington state in terms of total square footage — Tower 1 at Bellevue 600. The 43-story skyscraper —owned by Amazon — is expected to be completed by this year’s second quarter and will house a portion of the company's 10,000-strong workforce in the area.
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Other office developments in Bellevue include Vulcan Real Estate’s 1-million-square-foot project at West Main, as well as The Artise — a 609,000-square-foot property on the corner of northeast Eighth Street and 106th Avenue.
Similarly, Hudson Pacific Properties’ Washington One Thousand — located in Seattle proper — along with Costco’s expansion of its Issaquah headquarters at 999 Lake Drive are also expected to contribute another 1.2 million square feet to the market’s office inventory.
Cleveland Houses Largest Midwest Office Deliveries in 2024
When it comes to providing Midwestern representation, bets would be on Chicago as the most likely location to have an entry on the top 20 largest office deliveries list. However, this year, it’s the Cleveland office market that features not one, but two projects in the ranking, totaling 1.67 million square feet.
The highest-placed among the two (in sixth place) is the Sherwin Williams HQ in downtown Cleveland. Last month, the company announced the topping off of its 36-story building, which consists of 1 million square feet of prime Cleveland office space, as well as a two-story pavilion and a multi-level garage. Sherwin Williams’ roughly 4,000 employees are expected to move in upon the headquarters’ completion in the fourth quarter of 2024.
The property is also part of a wider development plan — dubbed “Building Our Future” — which also includes the 600,000-square-foot Global Research and Development Center that the company is developing in Brecksville, Ohio. This project is also expected to be completed in the closing months of 2024.
Methodology
We based this article on data that we compiled from CommercialEdge. Top 20 deliveries data was extracted on January 12, 2024, while national construction data was based on numbers as of December 2023.
We only included properties equal to or larger than 25,000 square feet and that were designated either exclusively or primarily for office use (such as mixed-use, including office space).
Data presented under the top office developments of 2024 includes under-construction projects with estimated completion dates during this calendar year. Final delivery dates may differ. The square footage shown for each entry represents total property size.
Owner-occupied projects were excluded from market totals, but not from the top 20 deliveries list.
Disclaimer
While every effort was made to ensure the timeliness and accuracy of the information presented herein, the information is provided “as is” and neither CommercialCafe nor CommercialEdge can guarantee that the information provided is complete. This report is for general informational purposes only. It does not constitute and should not be relied upon as a basis for any investment decision. The information presented is subject to change without notice and may or may not apply depending on the circumstances. Always contact a qualified investment consultant if you need advice regarding buying, selling or otherwise transacting in any investment.
