Tech, Advertising, Media, Info All Competing for Midtown South Space
By Jotham Sederstrom October 18, 2012 7:30 am
reprints44.6 percent—that’s the percentage of leasing transactions (by square footage) that were in the tech/advertising/media/information (TAMI) fields in Midtown South during the year to date.
The average size of those TAMI deals was rather small, at just over 26,000 square feet, and ranged from leases such as Havas, with 226,000 square feet, down to Speed Media, with just under 2,000 square feet. But we think TAMI has legs in Midtown South, due to the variety of firms taking space—it’s not just one particular segment of these creative fields.
In addition, TAMI does not just include the young startups; many old-timers also want to settle in to this part of Manhattan. Sure, some newbie tech firms may not make it to maturity, but many will. As giving as TAMI has been, however, the majority of the leasing activity this year (55.4 percent) comprised firms from outside of the acronym.
Numerous industries were well-represented in Midtown South so far this year, though they seem to get no credit for keeping the area hot. A variety of companies, from health care to education to personal services, helped make this the hottest area in Manhattan in 2012. Topping all the others, though, was the retail/wholesale sector, with firms such as J.C. Penney and Tory Burch swallowing up space. Thus, as important as TAMI has been to Midtown South, remember there are others that have been involved in the revival as well.
Robert Sammons, Cassidy Turley
