Meta Establishes New York City Retail Flagship at Vornado Realty Trust’s 697 Fifth Avenue
Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE: VNO) announced a 10-year lease with Meta to house Meta Lab New York at 697 Fifth Avenue.
Rhea-AI Summary
Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE: VNO) announced a 10-year lease with Meta to house Meta Lab New York at 697 Fifth Avenue. The five-level townhouse is 15,000 square feet and marks Meta’s first flagship retail location in Manhattan, joining its Los Angeles flagship.
The experiential space will showcase Meta’s AI glasses and VR headsets and follows prior Meta pop-ups and its 2020 Farley Building office lease.
Positive
- 10-year lease signed with Meta for flagship retail space
- 15,000-square-foot five-level townhouse acquired for experiential retail
- First Manhattan flagship for Meta, expanding retail presence beyond Los Angeles
- Builds on Meta's existing 730,000 sq ft New York office footprint at The Farley Building
Negative
- 10-year commitment creates a long-term occupancy obligation for Vornado
Details
News Market Reaction – VNO
On Mar 18, the day this news came out, VNO closed 1.46% above the previous close.
Data tracked by StockTitan Argus for the Mar 18 session.
Key Figures
- Lease term
- 10-year lease
- Meta Lab New York at 697 Fifth Avenue
- Building size
- 15,000 square feet
- Five-level townhouse at 697 Fifth Avenue
- Floors leased
- Five levels
- Entire townhouse building for Meta Lab New York
- Farley Building lease
- 730,000 square feet
- All office space at The Farley Building, leased in 2020
- NYC presence since
- 2007
- Meta’s investment in New York City business and civic community
- Prior flagship opening
- 2025
- Meta Lab Los Angeles initial flagship store opening year
- Price change
- 2.52%
- VNO 24-hour move before this news
- 52-week range
- $25.28–$43.37
- VNO 52-week low and high before this news
Historical Context
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Le Colonial signed a 15-year lease for 9,600 sq ft on 57th Street.
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Reported Q4 FFO of $112.9M and strong FY 2025 net income gains.
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Completed $525M refinancing of One Park Avenue, extending loan maturity.
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Declared quarterly dividends on five preferred series with April 1, 2026 payout.
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Engaged Newmark for next phase of THE PENN DISTRICT retail revitalization.
24h Move is the share-price change in the day after each event; other market factors may also have contributed.
Key Terms
experiential retail technical
virtual reality headsets technical
ai glasses technical
AI-generated analysis. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.
NEW YORK, March 18, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE: VNO) today announced the New York flagship location for Meta Lab at 697 Fifth Avenue. Meta signed a 10-year lease agreement with Vornado for Meta Lab New York to occupy the entire five-level, 15,000-square-foot townhouse building adjacent to the base of the St. Regis Hotel. This marks the first flagship retail location for Meta in Manhattan, following its initial flagship store opening in Los Angeles in 2025.
Meta Lab is a people-first experiential retail space that reimagines traditional shopping as a celebration of community, culture, and creative self-expression. Designed for hands-on discovery, Meta Lab invites visitors to experience Meta’s leading AI glasses and virtual reality headsets, making it easy to understand how the technology works and imagine how it fits into everyday life. Each location is shaped by its neighborhood, co-created with local artists and communities around distinct creative themes, and brought to life in an authentic, welcoming space.
“We’re proud to make a long-term commitment to Fifth Avenue, the heart of U.S. retail,” said Matt Jacobson, VP and Creative Director, Wearables, at Meta. “Our people-first approach to experiential retail is rooted in culture, creativity, and self-expression, and it’s driving meaningful sales and awareness of our products. Placing our flagship store alongside the brands that help define culture, will distinguish Meta Lab from traditional consumer electronics retail. There’s no better home than NYC to innovate on retail, and we’ll continue to celebrate the community while making our products easy to see, try, and understand.”
“As evidenced by Meta Lab’s immediate and tremendous success during its introductory pop up at this location, Fifth Avenue remains one of the most attractive retail corridors in the world for today’s most innovative and iconic brands,” said Vornado Executive Vice President and Co-Head of Real Estate Glen Weiss. “We are thrilled to further extend our long-standing relationship with Meta and applaud their permanent entry into New York City’s retail landscape.”
Drawn to its world-class tech industry, universities, financial institutions and startup ecosystem, Meta has invested heavily in New York City since joining its vibrant business and civic community in 2007. In 2020, Meta leased 730,000 square feet comprising all of the office space at The Farley Building in Vornado’s PENN DISTRICT. The iconic location serves as Meta’s New York City headquarters and a hub for its tech and engineering teams. Meta Lab New York joins Meta Lab Los Angeles as flagship retail locations. Meta also operates a retail location in Burlingame, Calif. The company recently launched pop-up boutiques in Las Vegas and Honolulu and plans to open additional retail locations throughout 2026.
About Vornado Realty Trust
Vornado (NYSE: VNO) is a fully integrated real estate investment trust (“REIT”) with a 26 million square-foot portfolio of premier New York City office, retail and multifamily assets and the developer of the new PENN DISTRICT. While concentrated in New York, Vornado also owns premier assets in both Chicago and San Francisco. Vornado is a real estate industry leader in sustainability, with
About Meta
Meta is building the future of human connection, powered by artificial intelligence and immersive technologies. When Facebook launched in 2004, it changed the way people connect. Apps like Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp further empowered billions around the world. Now, Meta is moving beyond 2D screens toward experiences that foster deeper connections and unlock new possibilities.
C O N T A C T
Thomas J. Sanelli
(212) 894-7000
Certain statements contained herein may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. They represent our intentions, plans, expectations and beliefs and are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties. Our future results, financial condition and business may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. You can find many of these statements by looking for words such as "approximates," "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," "intends," "plans," "would," "may" or other similar expressions in this press release. For a discussion of factors that could materially affect the outcome of our forward-looking statements and our future results and financial condition, see “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A, of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025. Currently, some of the factors are interest rate fluctuations and the effects of inflation on our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, operating performance and the effect that these factors have had and may continue to have on our tenants, the global, national, regional and local economies and financial markets and the real estate market in general.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7a6234dd-ce30-4069-a83e-0946199b513f
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