Uber is lining up a major expansion at Silverstein Properties’ 3 World Trade Center, where the company is poised to add roughly 86,000 square feet via a sublease. If it goes through, the deal would boost Uber’s total footprint in the Financial District tower to about 438,000 square feet, giving the rideshare giant close to one-fifth of the building’s roughly 2.5 million rentable square feet. The expansion is reported to be in late stages but has not yet been finalized.
According to The Real Deal, the potential add-on surfaced in a monthly office report from CBRE. The report kept certain details under wraps, including the identity of the sublandlord, the term of the sublease and the asking rent. The outlet also pointed out that Uber was on the other side of the table during the height of the pandemic, putting some of its space on the sublease market before quietly taking smaller additions last year.
Commercial Observer pegs the latest sublease at 86,071 square feet and calculates Uber’s total footprint at roughly 437,571 square feet. That outlet notes that CBRE represents Silverstein at 3 WTC and also describes the transaction as not yet finalized.
Market context
The larger Manhattan office scene is sending some mixed signals. Colliers found that February leasing volume slid to about 2.2 million square feet, a 39.5 percent drop from January, even as average Manhattan rents climbed, according to The Real Deal. The outlet summarized Colliers’ finding that average Manhattan rents hit $77.22 per square foot, while CBRE put the average asking rent for Lower Manhattan at about $59.26 per square foot.
Availability edged up to 13.6 percent and sublet inventory increased by roughly 510,000 square feet, the report noted, although overall supply still sits well below its pandemic peak. In other words, there is more space floating around again, but not quite at the fire-sale levels of a few years ago.
What the move signals for 3 WTC
Uber’s moves at 3 WTC, starting with its original 2019 lease and continuing through incremental takebacks last year, amount to a long-term bet on dense office space downtown. The company now controls multiple contiguous floors in the tower, giving it a campus-style stack in the heart of the World Trade Center complex. Commercial Observer reports that Uber first moved into 3 WTC in 2019 and expanded its presence there last year.
The building’s tenant roster also includes StubHub, Asana and McKinsey & Company, so Uber’s potential expansion would deepen an already strong mix of tech and consulting names at the property.
If the reported sublease closes, Uber would control roughly one in five rentable square feet at 3 WTC, reinforcing a broader pattern of big tenants either consolidating or stretching their downtown footprints. For now, the transaction remains pending and serves as one more data point in a Manhattan office market still figuring out how much space companies really need in the post-pandemic era.
