Related Companies is quietly shopping a rebuilt 625 Madison Avenue as an “apex” office tower that it hopes will reset what top Manhattan tenants are willing to pay. Marketing materials flag base rents near $250 per square foot and suggest some deals could crack $400, a moonshot even for a block that sits just off Central Park at East 59th Street and Madison. Demolition of the midcentury office building that once housed Related itself is well underway while the developer works the phones with prospective tenants and partners.
Leasing brochures circulating among brokers tout designs by Foster + Partners and Gensler and show a tower with curved glass corners, polished steel framing, stacked column-free floor clusters, double-height mechanical levels and a triple-height central amenity space rising roughly 30 to 40 feet. The pitch also casts the building as carbon-neutral. Those same materials list base rents starting around $250 per square foot and indicate Related is eyeing some deals above $400 per square foot, according to the New York Post.
Related bought back the property from SL Green in May 2024 for roughly $630 million and quickly began razing the old structure. The project then drew heavyweight outside money when Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund invested about $200 million and took roughly a two-thirds stake, according to The Real Deal. Industry reporting also says Related has floated converting up to roughly 840,000 square feet of the new tower into trophy office space as it shops the plan to tenants and partners, per Commercial Observer.
Designs and competing programs
The site has already cycled through competing visions. Earlier filings and coverage showed a 68-story residential supertall by SLCE Architects, built over a large multi-story podium with condos and amenities, even as Related continued to study office-heavy scenarios. That earlier program and the steady demolition work are documented by YIMBY, and Related’s own project listings still reference SLCE on the file on Related’s site.
Why landlords think they can charge top dollar
Developers and investors are pointing to a classic supply squeeze at the very top of the market. Newly built, column-free floor plates are scarce, while demand has piled into the priciest, most amenitized product. Availability in those buildings has tightened and several jumbo leases have clustered there, according to market reports. Those dynamics, combined with Related’s track record preleasing big blocks at projects like 70 Hudson Yards, are part of why sovereign wealth funds and major developers are betting that tenants will tolerate unusually high asking rents, according to Bisnow.
Timeline and what to watch
On the ground, demolition crews are closing in on the end of the teardown on the 59th Street block. The next big milestones will be any formal design unveiling and news of the first signed leases. For now, Related has declined to publicly lock in a final program, even as it circulates marketing materials. Local coverage has also noted that the developer has pursued additional development rights from the landmarked Metropolitan Club to add bulk to the tower, a zoning maneuver that would largely determine how tall and how large the finished building can be, per CityRealty.
Whether tenants actually sign on the dotted line at those headline numbers, even with sovereign capital in the mix, is the question that will decide if 625 Madison becomes Manhattan’s new apex office or a glossy cautionary tale about overreach. The clearest signals will arrive when Related files a final plan, confirms the architect of record for any office scheme and announces the first marquee leases.
