As tech firms crowd Midtown South, raising rents and decreasing inventory, smaller firms and start-ups are increasingly pushed to what one broker called, “the northern fringe of midtown south,” Crain’s reported. The growing digital advertising management company Operative Media recently expanded from its Flatiron District office, signing an eight-year lease for two floors, totaling 30,720 square feet at 6 East 32nd Street. The asking rent at the building owed by Meringoff Properties was $41 per square foot – slightly under the July’s average ask of $46.42 in Midtown South.
Mark Stein and Jason Vacker of Meringoff Properties represented the landlord and Jones Lang LaSalle’s Jim Wenk and Ryan Masiello represented Operative Media in the deal. “We’ve seen tech companies expand the boundaries of their searches, due to the limited amount of available real estate in Midtown South proper,” Wenk said.
Big tech companies leasing in Midtown South, such as Google, Tumblr and Yelp, have increased rents and soaked up inventory to such an extent that Queens is seeing a boom in start-up leasing activity. [Crain’s] – Christopher Cameron