Nearly one-third of that added inventory was brand-new space:SJP Properties' 11 Times Square, counted in the tally by CassidyTurley (formerly Colliers ABR) for the first time. At the moment,the speculative office property is 100% vacant although publishedreports suggest that could change by the time the tower comes online later this year. Another newly added property, the new GoldmanSachs headquarters at 200 West St., is counted as 100% occupied.With these new properties in the mix, Manhattan's total officeinventory is 449.1 million square feet.

Although figures may vary by company due to differingmeasurement methodologies, the consensus view of reports by CBRE,Cassidy Turley and Jones Lang LaSalle is that Manhattan's vacancyrate did decline month-over-month in January. CBRE's figures show a10-basis point drop from 9.8% in December '09 to 9.7%, whileCassidy Turley says it was 13.5% in December and 13.3% last month.Coming in between those figures is JLL, which puts the island'soverall vacancy at 12.8%.

According to JLL, Midtown's class A vacancy rate "improvedslightly" to 14.3% during January, compared to 14.7% at the end ofthis past year. "Several large deals that were supposed to close inDecember carried over into the new year," according to JLL. Due tothe increase in activity and "no notable blocks of space" placed onthe market, the class A vacancy for Midtown dropped below 14.5% forthe first time in nearly a year, JLL says.