According to a CBRE report focusing on the East Side District, which includes 44 office buildings situated between the FDR Drive and Lexington Avenue, spanning East 34th to 67th Street, there’s a more optimistic future ahead for the area after it experienced a downturn beginning with the onset of COVID-19.

CBRE identified a “significant transformation” as it evolved from an “office-centric” area to mixed use.

The ongoing or planned conversions to apartments of  a half-dozen buildings, four of them on Third Avenue, drove office tenants to other locations.

Partly as a result, availability fell from 25.3% in October 2022 to 18.1% in the first quarter of 2025.

Major renewals and expansions by firms such as Bloomberg LP and Kirkland & Ellis renewed confidence in the market.

CBRE noted, “The district has gained some positive traction driven by rising demand and efforts by property owners to tackle the surplus,” describing it as “a market prepared for prospective growth.”