Agility has become the defining strategy in the current office landscape. That’s because developers who can pivot quickly are better-positioned to mitigate losses and adapt to shifting demand. This trend is evident not only in the ongoing contraction of construction volumes across major U.S. markets, but also in the strategic pausing of high-profile projects. A notable example is IQHQ’s life sciences development in Boston, where vertical construction on the nearly 960,000-square-foot lab project has been halted until the developer secures a 50% pre-leasing commitment.

Despite these pauses, new construction starts have recently increased: According to Yardi Research data, nearly half of the 28.9 million square feet currently under construction consists of projects that broke ground in 2025. While this volume remains below the record highs seen immediately following the pandemic, the significant increase in the last 12 months provides an encouraging signal to developers regarding the potential for future project growth.

Click on the highlights in the executive summary below to learn more development insights and details on the largest office projects scheduled for completion this year.

Executive summary

Boston office pipeline drops to less than one-quarter of post-COVID-19 highs
West Palm Beach, Fla, office boom concentrated around $10 billion downtown megaproject
Amazon tower in Bellevue, Wash., heads ranking of major U.S. office deliveries in 2026
660,000-square-foot Alexandria Center Fenway leads national life sciences pipeline
Houston development tops list of largest medical offices under construction

Boston Pipeline Drops to Less Than 25% of Post-COVID-19 Highs

At the start of 2026, an estimated 28.9 million square feet of office space was under construction across the U.S. The overarching trend is similar to last year with developers slowing production to drive down vacancy rates and allow demand to catch up.

For instance, Boston — a perennial leader in the national office pipeline in the last few years due to its role as the epicenter of the life sciences boom — has further cut its projected output. At 4.1 million square feet, it’s now less than one-quarter of its peak in 2024.

Despite a slight dip in its total square footage in the pipeline, Manhattan, N.Y.’s 2.7 million was sufficient to catapult it back into second place after it fell outside of the top five markets for construction last year. Not far behind, Dallas came closest to challenging for that runner-up spot with its 2.4 million square feet of office space currently under construction.

Then, Los Angeles ranks fourth in terms of office construction volume (2 million square feet), followed by a surprising newcomer to the list: West Palm Beach, Fla., has overtaken Miami as the most active market in the state with a total of 1.6 million square feet of office space in its pipeline (roughly double Miami’s).

Meanwhile, office development shrank by 163% year-over-year in Austin, Texas, meaning it not only lost its runner-up spot behind Boston, but also handed over the title of the highest-ranking Texas market for office construction to Dallas for the first time.

West Palm Beach, Fla., Office Boom Concentrated Around $10 Billion Downtown Megaproject

West Palm Beach, Fla., is leading this year’s ranking of percentage of stock under construction. The 1.6 million square feet of office space currently in the works here represents 4% of its existing inventory.

An area with a limited number of trophy assets that is now trying to meet growing demand, this is the first time that West Palm Beach has appeared on the list in recent years. Here, a lot of investor appetite is driven by Related Ross’ $10 billion megaproject to reshape downtown West Palm Beach into a financial and residential hub. The most prominent developments in the pipeline are the two trophy towers (10 & 15 CityPlace), which will add up to roughly 950,000 square feet of prime West Palm Beach office space. That said, both are projected to come online in the next two years, rather than in 2026.

Next, the 4.1 million square feet of office space in Boston’s pipeline represents less than 2% of the city’s current stock, which has been boosted substantially since 2020. Although the volume of construction of life sciences and R&D workspaces has progressively declined throughout the last couple of years, these types of projects still dominate Boston’s landscape. Of the five Boston properties that made the nationwide top 20 largest office buildings under construction, four are classified as life sciences projects.

Not to be outdone, the pipeline in Austin, Texas, accounts for 1.4% of its office inventory with two projects looming especially large: One is the Waterline — a mixed-use office and residential building developed by Lincoln Property Company that’s purported to be the state’s tallest building upon completion — and Apple’s Austin campus expansion.

Amazon Tower in Bellevue, Wash., Heads Ranking of Major U.S. Office Deliveries in 2026

The top 20 largest office properties under construction in 2026 included only one project above 1 million square feet — the Amazon-owned Tower 1 at Bellevue 600 — with many of the assets in the pipeline designed to be occupied by their respective owners.

In fact, nearly half of all top deliveries are set to house operations of tech firms such as Google, Amazon, and Apple, as well as real estate and medical manufacturing companies. While life sciences and R&D workspaces continue to play an important role in high-end office output, mixed-use office projects that incorporate retail and multi-family spaces take the spotlight.

Among these, the 1.1-million-square-foot Tower 1 at Bellevue 600 in Bellevue, Wash., is making steady progress toward its estimated completion date in Q1 2026, despite significant Amazon employee layoffs last autumn and a temporary halt in construction at several of the company’s developments across the city. The massive, 43-story office tower — which also features 16,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space — will house Amazon’s 15,000-strong labor force in Bellevue following the firm’s decision to fully scrap its hybrid work model.

In second place, a trophy office space in Omaha, Neb., designed to serve as the headquarters of Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company will add 800,000 square feet of office space to the city. Upon completion in the final quarter of 2026, it will be the tallest building in both Omaha and the state of Nebraska, as well as the tallest in the surrounding states of Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, South Dakota and Wyoming. The property will feature a street-level lobby, five-floor sky lobby, landscaped outdoor terraces, fitness center, and flexible conference and meeting spaces.

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