Westchester’s office market is showing signs of life — but the comeback story is less about new businesses moving in and more about the ones already here refusing to leave.
Office leasing jumped 30% year over year in the first quarter of 2026, reaching about 450,000 square feet, according to Newmark’s Q1 report. That’s above the county’s 10-year first-quarter average of 410,755 square feet.
But most of that activity came from lease renewals, not new arrivals.
The biggest deals:
- Prestige Consumer Healthcare renewed and expanded its space at 660 White Plains Road in Tarrytown, keeping 79,386 square feet and adding 10,500 more.
- Mast-Jägermeister US renewed nearly 30,000 square feet at 10 Bank Street in White Plains.
Of the six largest deals tracked by Newmark, five were renewals. The only major new lease was law firm Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, which signed for 15,106 square feet in Harrison.
In other words: Westchester isn’t exactly attracting a wave of new employers — it’s convincing existing ones to stay.
Smaller companies are driving activity
The strongest growth came from smaller office deals:
- Leases between 5,000 and 10,000 square feet jumped 240%
- Deals under 5,000 square feet increased nearly 66%
Newmark said companies appear to be locking in space earlier as available offices become harder to find.
Office market gets tighter
The county’s office vacancy rate dropped to 19.9%, down from a recent high of 27%.
But there’s a catch: part of that improvement came from removing outdated buildings from the market, including IBM’s former Somers campus and the “700 Series” complex along I-287.
Other signs of improvement:
- Class A office rents climbed to $30.81 per square foot
- Countywide average rents surpassed $30 per square foot for the first time since 2008
- No major new office buildings are currently in the pipeline
What could change the game
Two major projects could reshape Westchester’s business landscape:
- Regeneron’s $1.8 billion Tarrytown expansion, expected to add about 900,000 square feet of lab and office space by 2027
- District Galleria in White Plains, a $2.5 billion mixed-use development that has received zoning approvals
For now, Westchester’s office market is stabilizing — but the biggest question remains: can the county turn companies staying into companies coming?
