Stretching from Madison Square to East Harlem, Madison Avenue is one of the most iconic streets in America and has been home to some of the country’s most influential businesses. Madison Avenue has been closely associated with the luxury and advertising world for the past century, but the Don Drapers of the world no longer dominate the area. Madison Avenue offices are home to international retail brands, law firms, creative agencies, hedge funds, consulting firms, and tech startups. Options include long-term rentals, short-term leases, coworking, and shared offices.
Stretching about 6 miles North to South, Madison Avenue brings you close to dozens of popular neighborhoods and landmarks, including the Flatiron District, the Empire State Building, Grand Central Station, Bryant Park, Murray Hill, Rockefeller Center, Midtown East, Park Avenue, the Upper East Side, and East Harlem. However, the standard Fifth/Madison submarket stretches from around 47th Street in the South to 65th Street, with Sixth Avenue and Madison serving as the East-West borders.
Madison Avenue Office Space | Lease Data & Trends
The Fifth/Madison Avenue market is one of the premium submarkets in Manhattan, with more than 24 million square feet of easily accessible office space. The average rent price for Madison Avenue office space is $99 per square foot, among the highest rates in NYC. For office leases in Class A buildings, that average rent price rises to $105 per square foot. The high price is due to the quality of buildings, and high foot traffic that is crucial to retail brands.
One of the many perks of renting office space on Madison Avenue is the community’s commitment to keeping the street clean and beautiful. The Madison Avenue Business Improvement District has committed to helping property owners maintain a litter and graffiti-free environment, with a professional cleaning crew supporting the Department of Sanitation’s efforts to collect garbage, line and empty trash bins, remove snow from sidewalks, and remove stickers and flyers. The group has also led a local beautification initiative, planting dozens of trees along the street.
Popular office buildings include 11 East 44 Street, 350 Madison Avenue, and 340 Madison Avenue.
Transportation: Getting to, From, and Around Madison Avenue
Given its location in the heart of Manhattan, we don’t recommend trying to drive near or around Madison Avenue (if you must, brace yourself for traffic, and factor parking into your budget). Office tenants instead can take advantage of a range of public transit options, along with protected bike lanes in Central Park and along 1st and 2nd Avenues.
Employees based in Queens or North Brooklyn can bike across the Queensboro Bridge, and Roosevelt Island residents can take the train or tram. There are a dozen CitiBike docking stations within the Fifth/Madison submarket, with many additional stations on Park and Lexington Avenues.
The Lexington Avenue line (4 and 5 express trains, 6 local) runs parallel to Madison Avenue, and the newly completed Q train extension runs through the Upper East Side. Offices located closer to Midtown have more extensive transit options, including the F, M, N, Q, R, and W trains, local and express buses, and Metro-North trains that run from Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess Counties and areas in Connecticut to Grand Central Station.
Why Employees Love the Fifth/Madison Area
In addition to plenty of transit options and proximity to Central Park, The Madison Avenue area offers hundreds, if not thousands, of restaurants, coffee shops, and bars for employees and clients to enjoy within walking distance. Our brokers are particularly fond of Viand, Little Collins, and Amali. Employees are also a short walk from the Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Frick Museum, and the Transit Museum.