Vacancy less than 10% at World Trade Ctr - Mid-Year Review & Forecast Section I

Vacancy less than 10% at World Trade Ctr.

While the past six months have not been easy for the commercial real estate market, fortunately, the World Trade Center has not been hit as hard as elsewhere in Manhattan.

The vacancy rate for the World Trade Center remains at less than 10 percent, while a 17 percent vacancy rate prevails in Manhattan. Some of the space in the World Trade Center that has come onto the market has been quickly absorbed by the facility's 400-tenant base. This is especially evident among several of the largest Japanese city banks who have decided to double their space in the complex.

Part of the lower vacancy rate may be attributed to the World Trade Center's increased marketing activities over the past two years which have paid dividends in leases. The World Trade Center marketing campaign is modeled to emphasize the facility as an international business place, and more specifically, a place where international companies can interact with one another in a user-friendly atmosphere. The World Trade Center is also becoming more proactive in its recruitment outreach both here and abroad. Networks centered in the Port Authority's overseas Trade Development Offices have been set up in Japan, the United Kingdom and France and another is slated for Germany.

Efforts to meet increasingly varied tenant requirements have also been stepped up. A dedicated tenant services team was introduced recently to ensure increased responsiveness to tenant needs and concerns. Tenants are also being afforded the advantages of The World Trade Institute and the Port Authority's XPORT Trading Company. A translation service available to tenants is scheduled for introduction.

In the World Trade Center's early years, trade services firms formed the backbone of the tenant base. The World Trade Center is aggressively courting those companies' return. Special rental concessions are being offered that make the complex an attractive location. In keeping with this initiative, success was met with the recent lease signing by the Journal of Commerce for over 25,000 square feet of headquarters space.

For the remainder of 1991, in general it will not be surprising to see the continuation of the trend for smaller tenants to try to use the soft market to their best advantage by moving to better space for the same money. The World Trade Center plans to continue its foreign and domestic outreach and to retain its existing tenant base via upgraded tenant services.

George Rossi General Manager/Development and Rentals The World Trade Center

COPYRIGHT 1991 Hagedorn Publication
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