Downtown: The Eli Manning of Office Markets
Midtown South is Peyton Manning, everyone’s favorite, but its southerly submarket sibling, Downtown, is quietly carving out a name for itself like Eli Manning did with his pair of Super Bowl rings. (Meanwhile, Park Slope is like the late Wellington Mara. Venerable, old, but capable of producing some real talented young people.)
Cresa’s Wes Rudes tells us the spread between asking and taking rents for Class-B and B-plus office buildings Downtown has narrowed significantly this quarter. Buildings that are quoting rents to the tenant rep in the upper $30s/SF no longer are using that figure as a negotiating starting point but rather are trying to close leases at that pricepoint. The market has arrived as the new place for businesses to be, Wes says, not just a cheaper alternative to other submarkets. Companies see a Downtown location as a recruiting tool, he says, given the mass of young, creative talent that’s now living in Dumbo, Williamsburg, and Greenpoint.
