Why More Tech Startups Are Making Pricey NYC Home

Rudin Management CEO Bill Rudin says more and more startups are calling New York City home for one major reason. And it’s not tax policy.

“Because their employees want to live in New York City – that is the main driver,” says Rudin.

In fact, Rudin says many tech companies are actually looking to take a bigger bite out of the Big Apple.

“We’re seeing tremendous activity in the marketplace … all over the city, whether it’s Midtown, Midtown South, Downtown, and Brooklyn -- big leases,” says Rudin. He cites IBM moving the Watson supercomputer unit to the East Village and Google expanding its offices as prime examples of the tech sector’s appetite for NYC real estate.

And it’s not just the big guys.

“You’ve got thousands of small companies that are just starting to percolate here in the city, whether they go into a shared workspace like WeWork … or [find] their own space” he says.

However, Rudin says it’s important for the city to keep taxes competitive and maintain affordable real estate for both workers and employers.

“[W]e have to have diversity of office space: $15-a-foot office space to $150-a-foot space to fulfill the demand of the marketplace,” says Rudin. “And that’s what this city is about: It’s diversity.”