As Midtown South fills, tech firms find homes along Broadway in Midtown

As tech firms have proliferated throughout New York City it was only a matter of time before the industry grew too large to remain in the confines of Midtown South. Citing city data, the New York Times reported that of the 1,400 digitally based businesses in the city, 100 call the area between the Flatiron District and Central Park — or Midtown proper — home.

The trend can be attributed to the lack of vacancies — and higher prices of those availabilities — in Chelsea, the Flatiron District and Soho. Due to tech firms’ interest in the region, rents can reach as high as $70 per foot. On the other hand, in certain high-vacancy pockets of Midtown, especially along Broadway south of Times Square, asking rents are as low as $40 per foot.

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The Times said landlords in that area, including Malking Holdings at the Empire State Building, are trying to cash in on the trend by opening their layouts to tech firms’ tastes — even if they aren’t quite the warehouse-like space that typically gives birth to startups.

Tech firms “are moving away from environments that are about creativity into those that are more ‘Let’s get to work,’ ” Anthony Malkin told the Times. [NYT] — Adam Fusfeld