Return to Physical Offices Will Happen in ‘Months,’ Not Years: NYC Landlord

Though the proportion of New Yorkers working in physical offices is in the “teens,” the “return to normalcy will be the order of the day in months, not in years,” said Vornado Realty Trust CEO Steven Roth on a Q3 call Wednesday. The company owns major commercial buildings in Manhattan, including One Penn Plaza next to Penn Station and Madison Square Garden and the adjacent Farley Building, where Facebook will lease 730,000 square feet in Q1, said Roth. “We are hearing from all our tenants that Zoom fatigue is real, productivity is low and CEOs want their employees back in the office,” he said. “That will take some time.” The landlord believes “there will be marginal work from home” and the office “will be the main place where work, creativity, growth and business is conducted.”