Return to the Office? Big Tech is Coming to New York

The general consensus about the return to the office today seems to be close to unanimous – it is all about flexibility.??For some workers,??the decision is to either stay or to quit depending on how much flexibility the employer permits. For the employers with the vision for the future,??the pandemic became a welcome challenge, an opportunity to reimagine the workplace altogether.??Despite the pronouncements of the demise of the office and the bleak predictions for the busy urban hubs,??the true office potential is about to be newly discovered. The pandemic accelerated the transformation of the office that is centered around a very human need to connect, to collaborate and to be together. The office will be turned into the place for connections, innovation and creativity. It will be the place where people come together. That is perhaps why the Big Tech started its big move to New York.?

New York?was notoriously the hardest hit by the first wave of the pandemic. The city introduced some of the toughest pandemic shutdowns and mask protocols. While many residents were leaving the city for the suburbs, the Big Tech was moving in. The strict policies were beginning to slowly pay off.??

Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon expanded their presence in New York during the pandemic.??The growth in tech jobs has outpaced all others.????The investment in the Silicon Alley ( New York City area where most tech??companies are based ) has only accelerated taking advantage of the most iconic New York??real estate.??

Google’s most recent purchase of??a sprawling??Manhattan office building on the Hudson River waterfront?for $2.1??billion further expanded the company’s 12, 000 employee presence in the City.??Google’s was the largest US commercial real estate transaction in the pandemic . Google is joined by Facebook, Apple and Amazon who have significantly expanded their foot print in New York as well.??In the midst of the pandemic, Facebook leased??the old Post Office at Penn Station?to occupy 2.2 million square feet of office space. Similarly,??Apple??increased its workforce in New York and leased a big office building across the street from Penn Station.?Amazon?closed on almost $1 billion sale of the iconic Lord and Taylor building on??5th?Ave.?

At the same time,??the tech companies are continuing their remote working and hybrid working policies. As the recovery from the pandemic is taking its time, the new life of the office is just about to emerge.??It will be important to watch how these tech innovators will reinvent the office space . They are not building new campuses, but transforming the most iconic signature buildings from within. They are not escaping to the suburbs but establishing themselves in the midst of the busiest and most diverse city in the US. What messages are they sending about the talent,??diversity, skills and the future of work??

?