Vornado Realty Trust announced a 10‑year lease for Meta’s flagship Meta Lab at 697 Fifth Avenue, a 15,000‑sq‑ft townhouse adjacent to the St. Regis Hotel. The lease brings Meta’s experiential retail concept—focused on AI glasses and virtual reality headsets—into Manhattan’s premier retail corridor.
The new lease follows Meta’s November 2025 pop‑up at the same location and complements the company’s broader retail footprint, which includes a 730,000‑sq‑ft headquarters lease in Vornado’s Farley Building. Meta’s strategy centers on the Ray‑Ban Meta smart glasses, with plans to ramp production to 10 million units annually by the end of 2026.
Vornado’s Q4 2025 earnings, released on February 9 2026, showed an adjusted FFO of $0.55 per diluted share—slightly below the consensus estimate of $0.57—while revenue of $453.71 million beat expectations of $440.23 million. The earnings beat was driven by strong occupancy in Manhattan office space and disciplined cost management, offset by higher net interest expense.
Glen Weiss, Vornado’s executive vice president and co‑head of real‑estate, said, “Fifth Avenue remains one of the most attractive retail corridors in the world for today’s most innovative and iconic brands.” Matt Jacobson, Meta’s VP and creative director for wearables, added, “Placing our flagship store alongside the brands that help define culture will distinguish Meta Lab from traditional consumer electronics retail.”
The lease underscores Fifth Avenue’s continued appeal, where the median asking rent for retail space between East 49th and East 59th Streets was $2,550 per square foot in the second half of 2025. Vornado’s long‑term relationship with Meta and the addition of a high‑profile tenant strengthen the REIT’s portfolio amid a constrained supply of premium retail space.
While the financial terms of the lease were not disclosed, the agreement signals confidence in Meta’s experiential retail model and reinforces Vornado’s strategy to attract premium tenants in Manhattan’s most coveted retail corridor.
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