Castle Hook sets NYC office rent record with $21m-a-year lease

Low-profile macro hedge fund Castle Hook Partners is set to pay as much as $21.2m a year for new headquarters in Manhattan, in what is believed to be the highest office rent yet recorded in New York, according to a report by the Financial Times.Castle Hook will occupy the top two floors of Related Companies' 625 Madison Avenue tower, taking approximately 53,000 square feet of penthouse space. The report cites unnamed people familiar with the agree ment as saying that the 15-year lease will see the hedge fund pay between $350 and $400 per square foot annually.The firm is expected to move into the space during the second half of 2029, when the new 53-storey tower overlooking Central Park is scheduled to be completed.The lease surpasses the previous reported New York office rental record, set earlier this year when an international family office agreed to pay an average of $327.50 per square foot over a 10-year lease in a Midtown tower owned by Soloviev Group.Castle Hook, founded in 2016 by former Soros Fund Management executive David Rogers, currently operates from the General Motors Building on Fifth Avenue. The firm manages around $11bn and employs approximately 35 people, according to its latest regulatory filing.