New York City Office Competitiveness Study

ClientNew York City Economic Development Corporation
LocationNew York, NY
Service

Highlights:

Understanding the local real estate market to drive economic development strategic planning.

Client Goals:

The New York City economy experienced significant evolution as a result of both structural changes and the specific efforts of the Bloomberg Administration to diversify New York City’s economy during the first 10-15 years of the century. As a result of this evolution, NYCEDC was tasked by Mayor Bloomberg to conduct a study on the state of the commercial real estate office market for New York City. At the time, small startup companies were being priced out of the market due to the lack of class B and class C office space in the market.

Hayat Brown Role: 

Hayat Brown team members performed an economic analysis to identify new industries, such as high-tech and other high-growth sectors for developers and owners to target for increased occupancy. With growth industries identified, we assessed the availability of the commercial office space that high-tech and other high-growth sectors require and analyzed local and national space utilization trends. To understand nuances of the local market, our team surveyed over 30 New York City real estate industry participants. As a final analytical stage, we used market data to create a forecasting model, which projected New York City office space supply and demand between 2013 and 2025.

Project Outcomes: 

  • Identified opportunities to draw and retain high-growth industries to New York City.
  • Presented forecast model outputs to an advisory group, which also included prominent real estate developers, owners, brokers, construction managers, labor representatives, lawmakers and high growth tenants in the New York City market.
  • Drafted a report intended to increase public understanding of the importance of commercial office space that is affordable and attractive to the firms that will drive future job growth.
  • After receiving analysis, NYCEDC fostered an incubator and co-working network that provides low-cost space to startups and small businesses. Over 1,000 startups have benefited from the incubators.
NYCEDC