NEW YORK CITY-Cushman & Wakefield president of US operations Bruce Mosler emceed the company's event, Breaking the Space Barrier, last night in the Metropolitan Club. Speakers examined pricing power, comparative growth, the role of the economy and development. All concluded New York's real estate had the greatest chance of future success.

“Right now there's a 3.2% vacancy rate in Manhattan,” Mosler observed in his introduction. Referencing details from C&W's report distributed last night, bearing the name of the event,he dismissed notions of the volatility of the market as a result of dotcom closings. “New York is the home of old economy business, the fundamentals of which are still very, very good. Dotcoms gave back 600,000 sf of space last quarter, and already 300,000 sf have been taken.”

“Reports of job losses in the high-tech sector may look like a red flag for New York, but the real story is the hybridization of the New and Old Economy,” observes the C&W report. “Instead of rushing to file an IPO and leasing large blocks of space in anticipation of explosive short-term employment growth, firms are pursuing more rounds of venture capital funding and are joint venturing with complementing old economy businesses. The result of this is increasing convergence between old economy firms and their high-tech counterparts.”