HOW DOWNTOWN BOUNCED BACK

Lower Manhattan might’ve taken a lashing from Hurricane Sandy, but it’s by no means a nail in the market’s coffin. “It’s an absurd concept,” an optimistic REBNY prez Steve Spinola told a crowd of 350 during his opening keynote at yesterday’s Bisnow Future of Downtown event in One World Financial Center.

In fact, Lower Manhattan is in better shape than it’s ever been, Steve says. (Its secret: plenty of sleep, green veggies, and CrossFit.) Newer buildings did extremely well in the storm, and REBNY is forming guidelines on what needs to be done for the future. The 95M SF market—soon to be 100M SF—is larger than every city in the US besides Chicago, he says. If anything, it’s resilient, having been through 9/11 and 25% vacancy in the ‘90s.

Sandy won’t be a stigma for long. “This wasn’t just a Lower Manhattan problem… it’s far more a Tri-State issue,” says Swig Equities prez Kent Swig (right, with moderator Mitch Korbey, a partner at Herrick Feinstein). “We’re probably more prepared than other areas.”

Link: http://www.bisnow.com/commercial-real-estate/new-york/how-downtown-bounced-back/

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