Guest speaker Victor Rodriquez – Senior Market Analyst for CoStar Market Analytics – delivered a strong message on the current state of the New York Metro market, which is keeping pace with national growth. Highlights:

• Ecommerce continues to rise, with 15-20% online shopping growth vs. brick & mortar. Major 2018 closures reported: Toys R Us, Kmart, Sears, Bon-Ton, and Sam’s Club.
• Ground floor Food Hall concept taking off in office buildings, including the new Hudson Yards properties. They are replacing traditional flag ship supermarket retail as ground floor anchor tenants.
• Coworking leader WeWork continues to thrive in NYC – now trending from desk sharing toward corporate services. Clients like Microsoft, IBM and Pepsi are attracted to the WeWork model of cool, sleek design and people-friendly amenities.
• NYC is a tenant friendly market with landlords offering business incentives like $100/sf work order letters and contracts with sizeable free rent periods to attract and keep tenants.