SL Green’s $3 Billion One Vanderbilt in New York City Faces Big Challenges

After two decades of assembling a site and four years of construction, SL Green Realty Corp. is preparing to cut the ribbon next week on One Vanderbilt, the $3 billion office tower soaring above Grand Central Terminal. The timing, coming in the middle of a pandemic, couldn’t be much worse. Office-leasing activity in Manhattan has nosedived. Vacant space is climbing. The work-from-home culture spawned by Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, has raised big questions about the future demand for office space even after the all-clear signal sounds.