Projected Problems for Dot.coms are No Major Concern

The influx of dot.com-related businesses into Westchester County in the past year or so has helped lower the county’s office availability rate to respectable levels. However, the pullback by the investment community to fund fledgling dot.com operations will not impact Westchester County adversely, according to Salvatore J. Carrera, the county’s director of the office of economic development/real estate.

Carrera, a former commercial broker, says that the Internet-related companies that have set up operations in Westchester or relocated to the county have leased what he terms “needed space” for working areas. These firms are not operating in lavish corporate headquarters environments as traditional companies did years ago, space that was subsequently vacated once hard economic times set in.

“If there is going to be a bump in the road for the dot.com companies, they may let go some of their employees but they won’t be giving up much space,” he predicts.

He also says that while the county has attracted high-tech firms it has also seen non-Internet-related companies such as Atlas Air, Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide and Heineken USA relocate or significantly expand their presence in the county.

Carrera says that the county’s diverse business base will soften any economic downturn that might take place in the years to come.