New York City is a major financial, business and tourist destination. New York City is made up of five boroughs - Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Staten Island and of course Manhattan - with a population of eight million people. Of the city's five boroughs, only the Bronx is contiguous to upstate New York. The larger metropolitan area takes in Long Island, northern New Jersey, and south-western Connecticut, and Manhattan is an island.
New York is a city of superlatives: America's biggest city; its most exciting; both its business and cultural capital; and the nation's trendsetter. The city seems to pull in the best and the brightest from every corner of the country. The city's ethnic flavour has been nuanced by decades of immigrants whose first glimpse of America was the Statue of Liberty guarding New York Harbour, and by large expatriate communities as the United Nations is headquartered there.
But for all its eight million residents, New York remains a city of neighborhoods, whether it's avant-garde Greenwich Village, bustling Harlem, the ultra-sophisticated TriBeCa, or one of the ethnic enclaves such as Little Italy or Chinatown. The combined attraction of a world class city and low crime in comparison to other cities of its stature means that New York attracts people from around the world.
New York remains at the core of national and international financial dealings and remains the global center of corporate headquarters in finance and services, media, entertainment and telecommunications, manufacturing, and trade. The high price of both commercial and residential New York real estate makes it the nation's most expensive city in which to live and work, and it ranks as the thirteenth most expensive city worldwide. Residential rates can easily go to $1,000’s per square foot while in Manhattan, class A commercial office space ranges from $45 - $150 per sq. ft.
Manhattan recently dropped in CB Richard Ellis Group's worldwide rankings of the most expensive office spaces, from the No. 12 spot to No. 13. Manhattan is still by far North America's most expensive office space market at $103.43 per sq. ft. for space in Midtown. The next closest cities in North America were Calgary at No. 42 (with $66.27 per sq. ft.) and Toronto at No. 47 (at $62.44). London's West End by comparison held its place at the top with $299.54 per sq. ft., and Moscow climbed to the second slot. Miami recorded the biggest percentage gain in price, at 29 percent.
The Executive Suite sector of the overall New York City real estate market is growing annually. There are currently 70+ centers in Manhattan alone representing millions of square feet of office space. New locations are in the pipeline, with six due to open before the end of 2008.
Midtown is the crown jewel of Manhattan districts for office space and office business centers occupy space in many Class A buildings. Executive Suites operators in Midtown Manhattan offer completely turnkey landmark office space locations at prime addresses such as The Chrysler Building, 641 Lexington Ave, 1325 6th Ave, 1440 Broadway and 330 Madison Ave.
Two major commute points into New York City are Grand Central Station and Penn Station, both of which are popular choices for office location by commuters who enter the city at these busy junctions. Office business center operators with locations at 420 Lexington Ave and 380 Lexington Ave offer properties mere steps from the entrances of Grand Central Station. Near the Penn Station, Madison Square Garden market, there are office business center locations at 11 Penn Plaza, 2 Penn Plaza and 1 Penn Plaza. These are all within one block of the station.
The Union Square, Gramercy and Chelsea markets have also seen growth in the Executive Suitessector. Very popular with the media and creative industry groups, this market has operators with appealing locations on 25th and Broadway at Madison Square Park, 19th St. and 11th St., near NYU.
The lower Manhattan Financial District also has many prime Executive Suite locations. Wall St. is a draw for many businesses that work in the financial sector or provide services to that same sector. Law related businesses are also another major user of office business center space. Executive Suites offer Class A space on Wall St, with locations opposite the New York Stock Exchange at 14 Wall St., 40 Wall St., 44 Wall St. and 48 Wall St. respectively.
Users of the office space and services provided span every industry sector imaginable. Executive suites provide a variety of commercial real estate solutions for businesses’ evolving requirements. They provide a great entry point into the NYC office space market for many new businesses, as well as overflow and project space for businesses that already have established themselves in NYC.