Q2 2026 Office Lease Deals: The Comps That Topped the National Data

CompStak’s Q2 2026 Office Deals of Distinction report is out now, spotlighting the largest and longest office leases signed nationwide this quarter. You’ll see what a law firm committed to for twenty-five years on Fifth Avenue and how little free rent the quarter’s highest effective rent actually gave up. Below are the eleven office lease deals that topped the report, one per category

Top National Deal by Value: New Lease or Expansion

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett · 570 5th Avenue · New York City, Grand Central submarket

• 916,000 SF, new lease, over 29x the 31,375 SF New York City market average
• 300-month term (25 years), 185.9% longer than the 104.9-month market average for new leases and expansions
• $4.1 billion total consideration, the largest of any new lease in the quarter

The comp is dated May 8, 2026, with a September 8, 2026 commencement, a September 2051 expiration, and two ten-year renewal options behind it. Extell Development and Ingka Investments own the building. CBRE held the leasing assignment.

The notes are where this gets interesting. CompStak records the deal as a relocation from 425 Lexington Avenue, where the firm currently holds 595,799 SF, and describes the initial premises as 26 floors including a 13th office floor and a 20th mechanical floor. So this is not a firm adding space alongside its existing New York position. It is a firm moving, and taking roughly 54% more square footage when it lands.

Top National Deal by Value: Renewal or Extension

L’Oreal · 10 Hudson Yards · New York City, Hudson Yards submarket

• 484,000 SF, renewal
• $122.00/SF starting rent, 40.3% above the $86.90 market average for renewals and extensions
• 189-month term (15 years, 9 months), 80.1% longer than the 104.9-month market average
• $994.6 million total consideration, the largest of any renewal in the quarter

Look at the commencement date. The comp is dated May 27, 2026 and commencement is July 1, 2031. L’Oreal locked its Hudson Yards position more than five years ahead of occupancy, on a term that runs to 2047.

Ownership is a six-party group: Allianz, Kuwait Investment Authority, Oxford Properties, Related Companies, STRS Ohio, and TIAA. No brokers are recorded on either side, so this transacted direct. The total consideration works out to roughly $130.50/SF per year across the term against a $122.00 start, which tells you the lease escalates. The comp notes record three rent steps running the full 15.75 years.

Notable National TAMI Deal

Google · 315 Hudson Street · New York City, Hudson Square submarket

• 410,556 SF, renewal
• $75.50/SF, 4.7% below the $79.20 market average starting rent among TAMI tenants
• 74-month term (6 years, 2 months), 17.9% below the 90.2-month market average
• $177 million total consideration, the largest by any TAMI tenant in the quarter

Jack Resnick & Sons owns the building and handled the leasing assignment, with A. Rappaport and B. Greenberg on the deal. Commencement is October 1, 2026.

This is the quietest deal in the report and the most instructive. Google renewed on a term 16 months shorter than the market norm, at a rent below the TAMI average, on a footprint north of 400,000 SF. A tenant of that size taking a six-year renewal is buying optionality, and it got a rent discount for the trouble.

Notable National FIRE Deal

STARR Companies · 343 Madison Avenue · New York City, Grand Central submarket

• 45,832 SF, expansion, 9.7% above the 41,783 SF average for leases signed by FIRE tenants in the market
• 258-month term (21 years, 6 months), 134% longer than the FIRE tenant average in the market
• $222.3 million total consideration, the largest by any FIRE tenant in the quarter

BXP and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority are the owners. Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenant, with A. Behymer, A. Lachmund, J. Picco, and P. Van Duyne on the assignment. The comp notes record the tenant exercising an expansion option for two additional floors, so this space was already spoken for in the original document.

Twenty-one and a half years from an insurance tenant at a Grand Central address under construction is a long-duration bet on Midtown East, and it came through an option rather than an open negotiation.

Top National Deal by Starting Rent

HarbourVest Partners · 9 West 57th Street · New York City, Madison/Fifth Avenue submarket

• 7,842 SF, new lease, 75% below the 31,375 SF New York City market average
• $320.00/SF starting rent, 269.1% above the $86.70 market average
• 120-month term (10 years), 14.6% longer than the 104.7-month market average

The Soloviev Group owns the building. CBRE represented the tenant. This is the Boston fund’s first New York office, and it bought the address rather than the footprint: under 8,000 SF at nearly four times the market rate.

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Top National Deal by Effective Rent

HarbourVest Partners · 9 West 57th Street · New York City, Madison/Fifth Avenue submarket

• $295.50/SF net effective rent, 267.3% above the $80.46 New York City market average
• 7.7% below its own $320.00/SF starting rent

Same lease as the starting rent category, and the spread is the reason it appears twice. Net effective rent absorbs free rent and landlord work across the term. A gap of 7.7% over ten years means the concession package was thin.

That is the number worth tracking. A landlord discounting hard to fill space shows a wide starting-to-effective spread. The Soloviev Group held pricing on a small Plaza District block and gave up almost nothing to do it.

Top National Deal in a Trophy Building or New Construction

L’Oreal · 10 Hudson Yards · New York City, Hudson Yards submarket

• 484,000 SF, more than 18x the 25,865 SF average for New York City trophy office leases in the quarter
• $122.00/SF, 21.7% below the $155.78 trophy building average for comparable leases

The same renewal that topped the value category. CompStak records it as the largest trophy office lease signed in New York City since Bank of America’s 2.1 million SF renewal and extension at 1 Bryant Park in Q1 2026.

The rent is the part to sit with. L’Oreal renewed nearly 500,000 SF of trophy space at 21.7% below what comparable trophy leases cleared this quarter. Incumbency at that scale is worth something, and here it is priced.

[FLAG: deck error] The slide’s headline stat reads “8x” while its own body copy reads “more than 18 times the 25,865 square foot average.” 484,000 divided by 25,865 is 18.7. The bullet above uses the correct figure. The deck headline needs fixing.

Top National Deal by Transaction Size

Palo Alto Networks · 3000 Tannery Way · Bay Area, Santa Clara submarket

• 940,564 SF, renewal, nearly 33x the 28,663 SF Bay Area market average lease size
• $57.32/SF, 10.2% below the $63.82 market average starting rent
• 144-month term (12 years)

The only deal in the report outside New York apart from the Washington leg of the expansion below. CBRE Investment Management owns it, with an August 1, 2026 commencement.

One caveat the comp itself raises: the notes state the rate represents a blend across the tenant’s entire leased footprint at the campus and point to three additional comps for the detail. Read $57.32/SF as a campus average, not a single-building rate.

Top National AI Deal

Tennr · 345 Hudson Street · New York City, Hudson Square submarket

• 124,733 SF, 183.3% above the 44,032 SF average size of AI tenant leases in the market
• $48.00/SF, 41.8% below the $82.42 average AI-tenant starting rent
• 14-month term (1 year, 2 months)

The comp records this as a sublease, with $0.00 in landlord work and 3% annual escalations, taking the entire 4th and 5th floors. Hudson Square Properties owns the building. Newmark represented the tenant, with Harry Singer and William Lavisky on the assignment. Commencement was August 6, 2026.

Every number here reads differently once you know it is sublet space. A fourteen-month term at 41.8% below the AI-tenant average, with no landlord contribution, is a company buying room to grow into without committing to it. The healthcare workflow automation platform took the largest AI footprint of the quarter on the shortest term in the report.

Top National Relocation

United Talent Agency · 350 5th Avenue · New York City, Murray Hill submarket

• 109,948 SF, new lease, 250.4% above the 31,375 SF New York City market average
• $83.00/SF, 4.3% below the $86.70 market average starting rent
• 180-month term (15 years)

Empire State Realty Trust owns the Empire State Building. Newmark represented the tenant. UTA is moving from 888 Seventh Avenue, with commencement dated December 1, 2027.

A fifteen-year commitment at slightly below market rent, from a media tenant leaving the Central Park South corridor. The comp notes record the landlord building out the space, which is where the economics of a below-market face rent usually reconcile.

Top National Tenant Expansion

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett · two markets

• 916,000 SF at 570 5th Avenue, New York City, Grand Central submarket, over 29x the 31,375 SF market average
• 200,000 SF at 1445 New York Avenue Northwest, Washington DC, DC East End submarket, more than 8x the 24,034 SF market average
• The firm expanded its national footprint by 73.1% in Q2 2026

Pontegadea owns the Washington building. Both transactions are recorded as new leases.

[FLAG: deck contradicts its own comp] This slide states that “it is unclear when, or if, they will move from the 595,799 square feet currently leased at 425 Lexington Avenue.” The comp record on the value slide states plainly: “Relocation from 425 Lexington Avenue.” One of the two is wrong, and it changes whether this reads as expansion or relocation plus expansion. Resolve before publishing.

Data from CompStak’s proprietary database. Learn more at compstak.com.

What This Means for Office Landlords and Asset Managers

Three things from this quarter should change how you read the next one.

1. Term length has stopped being a single signal. STARR took 258 months and Simpson Thacher took 300. Tennr took 14. Both ends of that range appeared in the same market, in the same quarter, from tenants in growth mode. Duration now tells you about the tenant’s balance sheet, not about the market.
2. The concession spread is doing more work than the face rent. HarbourVest’s $320.00 starting rent made the headline, but the 7.7% gap to its $295.50 effective rent is the number that describes the negotiation. Pull starting and effective together or you are reading half the deal.
3. Incumbency is repricing trophy space downward. L’Oreal renewed 484,000 SF at 21.7% below the trophy average. If you own comparable space and are underwriting renewals at market, check what your sitting tenants are actually clearing.

One caveat on all of it. Eleven superlative deals are not a market sample, and nine of them are New York City. Use them to bracket the range, then pull the full comp set for your own submarket before you price anything.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What was the largest office lease signed in Q2 2026? A: Palo Alto Networks’ 940,564 SF renewal at 3000 Tannery Way in Santa Clara, which ran nearly 33 times the Bay Area market’s average lease size of 28,663 SF. The largest new lease was Simpson Thacher & Bartlett’s 916,000 SF deal at 570 5th Avenue in New York City.

Q: What was the highest office rent in Q2 2026? A: HarbourVest Partners paid $320.00/SF at 9 West 57th Street in Manhattan’s Madison/Fifth Avenue submarket, 269.1% above the New York City market average of $86.70/SF. The same lease also carried the quarter’s highest net effective rent at $295.50/SF.

Q: What is the difference between starting rent and net effective rent? A: Starting rent is the face rent in year one. Net effective rent spreads free rent and landlord work across the full term, so it reflects what ownership actually collects. On HarbourVest’s ten-year lease the two differ by 7.7%, which points to a thin concession package.

Q: Are AI companies driving office leasing in 2026? A: In this report, one deal was categorized as AI. Tennr took 124,733 SF at 345 Hudson Street, 183.3% above the average AI-tenant lease size in the market, but did it as a fourteen-month sublease at $48.00/SF with no landlord work. Large AI footprints are not automatically long-term commitments.

Q: How does CompStak verify these lease comps? A: Every comp is processed by a multi-step data verification system, including machine learning algorithms, statistical anomaly detection, and a team of CRE data analysts. Comps that arrive missing a key attribute are labeled as limited detail on the platform rather than published as complete.

See the Comps Behind Your Own Market

Eleven deals give you the national picture, and this quarter that picture is mostly Manhattan. Your next renewal negotiation turns on the twenty comps inside your own submarket, on what concession ratios are actually clearing there, and on whether your sitting tenants are renewing below what you are underwriting.