New York City Is Dropping $1B Annually On Office Space
New York City leases 22M SF of office space to the tune of more than $1B a year, a figure it should be trying to quickly curtail, according to a new report.
The Citizens Budget Commission released a report Wednesday that found the city is spending $1.1B on office space, The Wall Street Journal reports, a cost that is slated to go up $100M next year.
In addition to the 22M SF it rents, the city also owns 15M SF, per the CBC. Spending on office space has gone up significantly under Mayor Bill de Blasio.
While the city has shrunk its workstations sizes down to 6-feet-by-6-feet from its previous measurements of 6-by-8 or 6-by-10 to cut costs, the CBC thinks it is not economizing fast enough.
“With costs growing faster than rents and workforce, refocusing on managing leasing costs and using space more efficiently should be an administration priority,” Maria Doulis, the vice president of the CBC, told the WSJ in a statement.
Office leasing costs jumped 40% between 2014 and 2018, the report found. The city’s priciest lease is the space it has at 4 World Trade Center, where it spent $39M on rent last year.
A spokesperson for the city said the report didn't “acknowledge the progress DCAS has made to ensure efficient use of taxpayer funds."
