Why NYC Office Space Will Never be the Same
We’re in the middle of a huge shift toward more flexible office space and amenities and location often trumping price. It’s a brave new world, and that's why we're pleased to present our third annual NYC Office of the Future at Four Times Square on June 10, starting at 7am.
Mancini Duffy director of workplace innovation Fran Ferrone (above) says the paradigm in office planning needs to shift toward even more flexibility. Fran, who'll be speaking at our event, points out that not only is technology constantly evolving, but with the life span of most companies way down from a generation or two ago, business models are also in flux. She says this often means the features that make office space inviting, like communal spaces, can be the first to go when expansion happens. Too often, Fran says, office space is thought of like building the dream house you’ll retire in. But she says in today’s business environment it should be more like a pilot project, where walls and fixtures can be shuffled as workers shuffle in and out, as staff levels expand or contract, and as business needs change—as they constantly will.
View The Space co-founder Ryan Masiello, who’ll also speak, says for the first time, landlords are putting serious investment into repositioning less-than-tip-top office buildings in areas like the Garment District to make them competitive with Silicon Alley space in places like Flatiron. He says the West 30s right now are one area that’s a kind of “relief valve” for the historically low vacancy and rents that can top $70/SF in the most prime Midtown South areas. But Ryan says we’re due for a correction in tech that'll impact the white-hot Midtown South office market, but that it won’t be like the last dot-com bust since nowadays, there’s a proven market for what Silicon Valley (and Alley) are churning out.
Servcorp SVP Melanie Gladwell recently took us around their brand-spanking-new 85th floor space at 1 WTC. (We went on a cloudy day but if your office is so high up that it’s literally in the clouds, we’d say you’re doing alright.) The Durst Organization approached Servcorp about signing a lease and COO Marcus Maufarrige says a 15-year deal was signed last summer within two weeks. Melanie says it’s part of a strategy to take the most prime space in every city they’re in as companies looking for temporary digs seek out space that can impress both prospective employees and clients.
And downtown’s about to get a lot more impressive with the Santiago Calatrava-designed oculus opening next month, a new transit center, and two massive new retail developments by Brookfield and Westfield. Melanie says prestige for Servcorp’s clients, about half of which are multinationals, is about more than the address or the views. Servcorp has a reserve of 212 phone numbers they’ll dole out to clients who sign up for premium packages. To learn more, please join us for our third annual NYC Office of the Future at Four Times Square on June 10, starting at 7am. Sign up here!
