He says that the recent increase in rental rates throughout Manhattan, with the exception of the downtown market, will be one of the factors that will lead to an increase in city firms looking to lease space in the northern suburbs. He also notes that a decrease in workletter contributions, a reduction in rental concessions by New York City property owners, as well as an increase in recasting or renewal of existing large blocks of space in Manhattan, will also cause companies to consider Westchester and Fairfield.
Benson relates that for the past several years large corporate lease deals or relocations for over 200,000 sf by New York City companies to northern suburbs have been few and far between. With the exception of the New York Life Insurance and Morgan Stanley transactions in Westchester County, most of the recent leasing action in Westchester and Fairfield counties has come from internal expansions.
"At present, there is a great deal of activity in both counties in incubation stages or due to close shortly," Benson says. "As the New York City market continues to show a strong resurgence and the effectuated rental rates continue to escalate, with the only presently weak sector being the downtown area, my prediction is that Westchester and Fairfield can anticipate one of the greatest absorption periods since the early to mid 1980's."
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