New York’s Commercial Property Market Comes Storming Back

Rise in sales of office towers, apartment buildings warehouses after two-year dive signals confidence in real-estate market

Sales of the city’s office towers, apartment buildings, development sites and other properties rose to $12.42 billion in the first quarter, a 70% increase from the same period last year, according to real-estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield.

Manhattan transactions more than doubled to $8.9 billion.

Google’s $2.4 billion purchase...