For the 10 years between 2010 and 2019, the Building Congress forecasts a total of 29.5 million square feet of new office space will be built. In the period between 2000 and 2009, New York City added 22.3 million square feet of newly built office space, which was offset by the loss of more than 10 million square feet in the terrorist attacks on 9/11.
In addition to new construction, owners and office tenants are increasingly investing in alterations and renovations to their existing office space. According to a Building Congress analysis of Dodge data, A&R projects of $2.7 billion in total value were initiated in office buildings citywide in 2014, up from $2.2 billion in 2013 and $1.3 billion in 2012.
That trend has accelerated even further in the current year. In the first half of 2015, $1.7 billion worth of A&R projects were initiated, up from $1.2 billion in the first six months of 2014 and $833 million in the first half of 2013.
“It appears that owners of existing office properties are upping their games in anticipation of the new wave of modern offices that are coming on line over the next five years,” Anderson said.
While the pace of new office construction is at its greatest level in a quarter of a century, the numbers still pale in comparison to the period between 1968 and 1973, when 72 million square feet of new office space was delivered; or the 51 million square feet that were added in the nine-years between 1956 and 1965, and again between 1982 and1990.