This post was originally published on this site.
February 3, 2025
Video available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMWd_aCTT9I
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“Race for Space” Strategy Offers Bold Vision to Energize City’s Office Market, Attract National and International Companies as Anchor Tenants to Offices, Advance Ambitious Goal of 50 Million Square Feet of Total Leasing by End of 2025, and Create Thousands of Jobs Over Next Three Years
Announcement Comes as City Celebrates Breaking All-Time High Jobs Record for Eighth Time Since Start of Administration, Unemployment Down Across All Demographics
“Race for Space” Kicks Off “Jobs Week,” Highlighting City’s Effort to Ensure Opportunity Reaches Every Borough, Block, and Neighborhood, and Working-Class Families Have Access to Good-Paying Jobs
WATCH: Mayor Adams Kickoff “Jobs Week”
New York – New York City Mayor Eric Adams today kicked off “Jobs Week” – highlighting the Adams administration’s efforts to ensure job opportunities reach every borough, block, and neighborhood – by unveiling “Race for Space,” a comprehensive strategy to revitalize and reimagine office space across the five boroughs and double down on a commitment to bringing New York City’s economy back by creating thousands of new jobs for working-class New Yorkers. Race for Space would attract both national and international companies to become anchor tenants – large, well-known businesses in search of large commercial space – at offices, advance an ambitious goal of 50 million square feet by end of 2025, and create thousands of jobs over the next three years. The comprehensive strategy meets the challenge of vacant office space across the city directly with a range of bold tools to attract new and growing businesses to New York City, while also renovating existing commercial spaces. Today’s announcement comes as the city, last week, celebrated breaking the all-time high jobs record for the eighth time and unemployment going down across all demographics since the start of the Adams administration.
“The ‘Race for Space’ has officially started – and New York City is ready to fill our commercial office spaces with domestic and global companies, attract the very best talent, and create thousands of good-paying jobs,” said Mayor Adams. “When our administration sees vacant space, we see opportunity – an opportunity to revitalize and reimagine places like Midtown into economic engines and an opportunity to give New Yorkers access to good-paying jobs. And while we have, once again, hit an all-time record high for jobs in New York City, ‘Jobs Week’ is about doubling down on those efforts by announcing new programs that will make New York City the best, more affordable place to raise a family, starting with delivering the best jobs on the globe.”
“While New York City’s economy has hit record high jobs and labor force participation, Mayor Adams’ ‘Race for Space’ initiative takes decisive action against the ongoing challenge of vacant and aging offices, while building upon the success we have had so far,” said NYCEDC President and CEO Andrew Kimball. “From new relocation incentives to a new ‘International Landing Pad’ for foreign companies, this package will be a shot in the arm for the commercial real estate community, reactivating our offices while creating even more jobs for New Yorkers.”
“Race for Space” contains several programs that will create jobs, attract talent, and address the city’s vacant office space, including by:
- Launching a pilot “Relocation Assistance Credit for Employees” program (RACE), which will incentivize out-of-state companies to move to New York City and sign leases for at least 20,000-square-feet of space at qualifying office buildings. Under this new program, the Adams administration is targeting 15 new anchor tenants by the end of 2025, activating over 800,000 square feet of office space and bringing an additional 3,000 jobs to New York City. The existing Relocation and Employment Assistance Program (REAP) incentive program will also be extended for an additional five years. REAP offers business income tax credits for relocating jobs from outside of New York City or below 96th Street in Manhattan to designated locations above 96th Street in Manhattan or in one of the other four boroughs.
- Creating a new “International Landing Pad Network,” which will support growth stage international companies in their expansion to New York City, attract new sources of innovation and investment, and grow jobs for New Yorkers.
- Opening a new application round for the Manhattan Commercial Revitalization Program (M-CORE) program through May 1st. Launched in 2023, M-CORE was a key recommendation from the ‘New’ New York panel’s “Making New York Work for Everyone” action plan – a set of 40 initiatives to reimagine New York City’s commercial districts as vibrant 24/7 destinations. M-CORE aims to convert up to 10 million square feet of aging and vacant office space to amenity rich, high-quality office space that meets the demands of the current workforce. The program is already supporting the overhaul of over 1 million square feet of office space at 850 Third Avenue and 175 Water Street. Last week, the New York City Industrial Development Agency confirmed the latest M-CORE awardee, the Hahn Kook Center, an affiliate of the Korean International Trade Association located at 460 Park Avenue.
Race for Space builds on prior Adams administration efforts to address commercial vacancy in New York City. In June 2024, Mayor Adams celebrated passage of his “City of Yes for Economic Opportunity,” proposal by the New York City Council. City of Yes for Economic Opportunity is a set of citywide zoning changes the Adams administration introduced that will further fuel New York City’s economic recovery and pave the way for a more inclusive and prosperous future for New York businesses. Together, the proposed set of changes will help businesses find space and grow, support entrepreneurs and freelancers, boost growing industries, and enable more vibrant streetscapes and commercial corridors.
Last week, Mayor Adams and NYCEDC announced a roadmap to secure New York City’s reputation as the Artificial Intelligence (AI) capital of the world and bring AI jobs to the city. “New York City’s Artificial Intelligence Advantage: Driving Economic Growth and Technological Transformation” is a report that outlines a roadmap series of findings, recommendations, and actions to secure New York City’s position as the premier Applied AI capital of the world. The report includes 18 commitments to unlock New York City’s AI potential to drive economic growth and continue to develop a diverse workforce to power the future of the city and the sector’s economy. A key commitment of the plan includes a $3 million investment from NYCEDC to establish a first-of-its-kind “NYC AI Nexus,” a transformative initiative designed to facilitate collaborations between New York City-based startups and founders with local businesses to identify, build, and ultimately adopt Applied AI solutions to ensure the continued competitiveness of the city’s diverse set of industries. Finally, NYCEDC announced a partnership with OpenAI, which recently established its first east coast office at the historic Puck Building in Manhattan with 450 employees.
As part of the Adams administration’s successful 2024 Albany legislative agenda, the city secured the historic “467-m” office-to-residential tax incentive, passed in 2024, to help turn vacant offices into critically-needed housing. While office vacancy rates remain elevated – at 15 percent per latest available data – they stabilized in 2024 and have begun to improve, with back-to-back quarters of declining vacancy at the end of the year.
The Adams administration’s action today addresses a key challenge in an otherwise strong New York City economy. According to a new NYCEDC “State of the Economy” report published earlier this year, the city has hit record high levels of employment and labor force participation, remains the nation’s top destination for young talent, and has diversified into new, innovative sectors like life sciences, the green economy, and technology. Companies that are considering expanding to New York City can learn more about these new initiatives and a range of other resources by visiting Choose.nyc.
“At a time when our city holds almost 100 million square feet of vacant office space–the equivalent of over 30 empty Empire State Buildings–we must reimagine how to utilize this space to drive economic growth,” said New York State Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar. “In Albany I helped pass legislation to ease its conversion to housing, and the ‘Race for Space’ strategy will spur even more revitalization by reimagining it as valuable commercial space. This ambitious plan will attract businesses from across the country and around the world to create thousands of jobs, building upon the record job numbers in New York City today. Our work demonstrates how we can uplift thousands and bring new energy to our blocks when we transform our spaces to meet people’s needs.”
“As New York City looks to continue to grow its economy, we must take the opportunities we have to revitalize our neighborhoods and create more good-paying careers for hard-working New Yorkers, and vacant commercial space now represents one of those opportunities,” said Gary LaBarbera, president, Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York. “Mayor Adams’ ‘Race for Space’ initiative will play a great role in not only filling empty real estate throughout our city but also generating more pathways for working people to find stable, family-sustaining work that will allow them to ascend to the middle class and reinvest in their communities.”
“Creating more good jobs across all five boroughs will further the city’s recovery from the pandemic and help our state grow. It is why programs, like REAP and RACE, are important,” said James Whelan, president, Real Estate Board of New York. “Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul should be commended for championing efforts to strengthen New York.”
“If we want to deliver on a more affordable New York, we must create good-paying jobs in every neighborhood. Across New York City’s outer boroughs, few initiatives have been as successful in supporting job growth as REAP. We’re thankful to Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams for both championing jobs and affordability by supporting the extension of REAP. In addition to REAP, they are doubling down on this commitment by supporting RACE,” said Tom Grech, president and CEO, Queens Chamber of Commerce, and Randy Peers, president and CEO, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, on behalf of the Five Borough Jobs Campaign. “The Five Borough Jobs Campaign, representing businesses and neighborhoods across New York City, is committed to working with Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams to advocate for hard-working businesses and workers in every corner of the city. We look forward to working alongside the state Legislature to ensure REAP and RACE get passed.”