Location, location, location.
Increasingly a company's office location has been deemed an indicator of its potential for future growth and ability to keep pace with the development of New York City real estate, culture and business.
The influx of startups into Manhattan from other tech hubs, such as San Francisco's Silicon Valley, provided a glimpse into both the future of business and of New York's ability to remain at the forefront of financial and cultural growth. Following these small companies' ability to find a home in the city among big names such as Google and J.P. Morgan, industries outside of the "traditional" tech world are joining the Manhattan Valley, but are faced with the tough task of finding desirable office space.
The life sciences research industry, which has its established center on the East Side at the Alexandria Center for Life Science, is seeing growth from smaller firms in Manhattan. However, similar to obtaining traditional office space, available lab space in the city is hard to come by, leading these smaller firms to join the startup phenomenon of shared workspace. Growing tech firm, WeWork, has already tapped the collaborative office space market with its platform for startups to share office space around the city to mitigate real estate costs and even encourage a partnership of ideas among members.
Location of the collaborative lab space is another hurdle science research companies, among any company or resident of New York needs to overcome. In order to attract software technicians, the co-founder of fertility analytics firm, Celmatix, understood that the company needed to be located in a "trendy" area encompassed by popular restaurants, stores and similar tech companies. In the current commercial market, office location is key for a company's competitive edge.
However, there are situations in which a company's arrival is the defining moment for a neighborhood's growth. For example, the launching of Hillary Clinton's campaign headquarters in Brooklyn Heights can be seen as the introduction of business in downtown Brooklyn. Termed the "halo" effect, according to Crain's, Clinton's campaign will signal "downtown Brooklyn's arrival as a desirable place to do business," in addition to the rising number of residential developments in the area.
Whether at the forefront of technology or of a real estate boom, a company's location is crucial in defining its position in the market.