The energetic, fast-paced New York City is home to several global businesses. From tech and banking to fashion brands, NYC is a city full of opportunities for startups. Whether this is your business’s first office or just a part of its growth, moving it to an office in NYC is almost always a good idea. However, finding the perfect location for your NYC office requires a lot of planning and quick action. This is mostly because NYC is such an expensive and competitive market for commercial real estate.
While it is challenging, it’s certainly not impossible to find the perfect place to grow your business in New York City. If you take the time to consider some of the most important factors that we have laid out in this article and narrow down your choices by focusing on one business area within the city, you can find the perfect long-term real estate solution for your business.
The top business areas in New York City
A place as big as NYC is unsurprisingly able to offer a wide variety of places to choose from when it comes to looking for the perfect office space location. No matter what type of business you own, NYC has a business area to suit your needs. Let’s first go through a list of the most popular choices for both start-ups and larger companies when it comes to business areas in NYC.
Lower Manhattan
As one of the biggest business districts in the country, Lower Manhattan is a highly sought-after location. It’s home to the New York Stock Exchange and Wall Street. The two biggest benefits of this area are the easy transport links and amazing surrounding entertainment opportunities. It’s undoubtedly one of the most prestigious business areas in NYC. However, that comes with the caveat of being extremely competitive and expensive.
Brooklyn
With an estimated population of over 2.6 million, Brooklyn is the most populated New York City borough. It offers a large number of various available office spaces. From large private offices to coworking spaces. It offers great amenities at a much lower rent price than Manhattan. That is also one of the reasons why the popularity of Brooklyn has recently skyrocketed. Especially for startups and growing businesses.
Queens
Queens is probably a great location for your NYC office if you work with international teams or have workers across the country who only need to come in from time to time. Two of NYC’s major airports are in Queens – LaGuardia and JFK International. This makes it very well-connected and easy for clients and workers to fly in and out and quickly move around the rest of the city.
Midtown South
Midtown South is a macro neighborhood within Manhattan, most well known for housing NYC’s high-tech sector. This area is commonly referred to as Silicon Alley, although that name is mostly focused on the Flatiron District. If your business is in the tech, social media, or digital marketing sector, this is the location for you. It’s home to some of the biggest tech and social media companies in the world as well as many start-ups and growing businesses.
Midtown
Midtown has lots of things going for it as a business area. It has a booming financial center second only to Lower Manhattan. It’s the biggest central business district in the US. And it’s a commerce, entertainment, and media hub.
Things you should consider when choosing the perfect location for your NYC office
There’s a lot that goes into picking the perfect office space for your business. From balancing your business requirements and your budget to the features and commute options you want. Now that you are more familiar with all of the most popular business areas that offer great office locations in NYC, let’s move on to discussing some of the most important factors that you have to consider when picking an office location within one of those areas.
The requirements of your business
Different locations within NYC offer different types of workspaces for your business. Choosing the right one heavily depends on your industry and your team. For example, if you work in creative industries like tech or architecture you’ll need an office space with an open floor plan and natural lighting to encourage collaboration and creativity. On the other hand, if you’re in finance or law, you’ll need private meeting rooms and offices for confidential discussions. Understanding what your business needs will help you choose the right location which can accommodate them.
Determine and plan out your budget
The second thing you have to determine is your budget. Whatever needs your team and business have, it’s up to you (and your financial team) to fit them into your budget. One important thing to note here is that there’s more to consider than just rent prices. For example, even if you can afford rent in an expensive market such as Midtown, you still have to account for the fact that local amenities are going to contribute to your business’s monthly expenses. Experts from anustartny.com also advise you to consider how you’ll be handling moving expenses during this stage in the process. Moving into a new office can bring some unpleasant hidden expenses if not budgeted out carefully.
Accessibility and commute
Another important aspect of finding the right location for your NYC office is your commute requirements. Your office space needs to be easily accessible to your clients and your employees. There are two main factors to look for here. Firstly, people should be able to commute to your office space with a variety of transportation options. It should be accessible by train, subway, car, bus, and even bicycle. This makes it much easier for people to find some way to get there without spending too much time in traffic. Secondly, a great idea for businesses with international clients and clients from other states is to look for offices with nearby accommodation options.
Features and amenities
The amenities and features that your office space offers are a huge factor in employee satisfaction and client appeal. Some of the most attractive features for today’s businesses to look for would be the following:
- Sustainability standards,
- Fast WiFi,
- Up-to-date equipment,
- On-site property management,
- Updated infrastructure,
- Quality maintenance,
- Easy access for people with disabilities.
Aside from these, you should also consider features that will benefit the business itself. For example, an important thing to consider is your office security needs.
What are your plans for the long run?
While it is important to plan out how you’ll handle things regarding the initial investment for your NYC office such as, for example, hiring office movers, you also have to consider your long-term goals. If you want your business to start strong in the new office in Brooklyn for example, experts should handle your inventory and you should hire a tenant broker to help you find the right space. However, if you want your business to keep succeeding down the line, you’ll need to know in which direction you should be guiding it.
A great example of how this can affect your decision would be considering how long you plan to stay there. Are you looking to invest in a larger office space that can already accommodate the potential growth of your business? Or do you need an area in NYC with lots of coworking and flex spaces so that you don’t have to commit to a certain space right away?
To sum up
Knowing what to look for when searching for the perfect location for your NYC office is half the battle to choosing the right one. Ultimately, you’re looking for an area in the city that can offer you the things you’ve already decided you need. Having all of this planned out in advance can make finding the right location a lot easier.