"Mid-town Manhattan is an area of 1.75 square miles with 240million sf of office space," explained Joe Rose, chairman of theNew York Planing Commission. "Only 2% or 4 million of that 240million sf has been added in the past six years. Even at a modestgrowth rate, we need the capacity to expand."

"There is no question that there are places outside of Manhattanripe for additional growth. Long Island City, Downtown Brooklyn andFlushing are three that come to mind," Rose continued. "Globalcompetition is oriented around the ability to partake in what theCBD of the City of New York has to offer. "Three factors aredriving the office market," said Eric Deutsch, executive directorof The Group of 35. "Very low vacancy rate; growth of the economyand historically, the percentage of the overall economy that istied to the office market has grown and will continue."

"Beyond Midtown there is Long Island City and Downtown Brooklyn.Metro Tech has built-to-suit, class A back-office space, but notmuch else beyond that in terms of class B and C properties,"Deutsch explained. "The transportation now and in the future forLIC provides it with a great link to Manhattan. There isopportunity to build a great office presence that does not existtoday."