US Office Towers Are Being Sold for a Song

Office towers that once fetched eye-popping sums are now changing hands for the price of a modest Manhattan condo, the Wall Street Journal reports. In one Chicago deal highlighted by reporter Peter Grant, a 485,000-square-foot building that sold for $68.1 million a decade ago just went for $4 million. In Denver, a two-tower complex that commanded $176 million in 2013 was bought out of foreclosure for $5.3 million.

It's not bargain prices everywhere, cautions Grant: "Poorer-quality buildings, often in undesirable locations," are the most impacted. Indeed, rents are on the rise, and there are profits to be found in the most in-demand parts of New York City and San Francisco, he writes. But across the board, office values are down. As an exec with data firm MSCI puts it, "We're six years from the shock of COVID. But that's how long it takes someone to capitulate and give up such a highly valued asset." By MSCI's count, sales of distressed offices totaled $808 million in January and February 2026, a 24.5% year-over-year increase.

The lowered prices are opening up redevelopment avenues that would have been cost-prohibitive in the very recent past. That Chicago building, for instance, will convert from offices to an urban farm employing hydroponics. "Developers who bought at steep discounts can now justify costly structural changes—such as carving out atriums or reconfiguring floor layouts—that would have been financially unworkable at higher valuations," writes Grant. Read his full piece for more.