In New York City real estate, we understand perhaps more than most that the only thing constant is change. From meat factory transforming into swanky lofts or crime-ridden areas becoming the next hot neighborhood, in New York City we’ve seen it all.  

So it came as a bit less of a shock to us at Oxford to learn that WeWork has acquired the storied and historically landmarked Lord & Taylor building on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. With 676,000 square feet inside, the building has an enormous footprint. With retail moving online more and more, it makes sense that brick and mortar stores would begin the process of figuring out how to leverage their real estate.  

Lord & Taylor seems to have done just that; signing an agreement with a WeWork joint-venture will give the co-working space the vast majority of the square footage while keeping a section reserved for Lord & Taylor to run a scaled-down version of their department store.   The iconic Lord & Taylor building is about to undergo an incredible transformation, with WeWork moving in.

These trends are emerging more and more and the online retail giants Amazon and Walmart are leading the charge. Warehouse space is being more sought-after as e-commerce continues to flourish. With $111B transacted in the second quarter through online businesses, we expect to see more spaces being repurposed from the original intent when they were built.  

As Amazon, Walmart and other online retailers search for enough square footage to accommodate their inventory, we’re starting to see former malls transformed into storage space since warehouse space in urban areas is not readily available.  

By the end of 2017, it is expected that Amazon will be renting a total of 114 million square feet to house their inventory. In 2009, Amazon was leasing just nine million square feet and the trend is expected to continue upwards.  

With WeWork moving into an iconic New York City building and Amazon snatching up as much warehouse space as possible, at Oxford we’re expecting to see even more changes to the New York City real estate market. At only seven years old, WeWork is still in its early stages of growth, and who knows what start-up of today could revolutionize how more space in New York City is used in the future.  

One of the attributes that has served our Oxford agents incredibly well is to be flexible with the market. As we see these kinds of commercial opportunities arise, our goal for our clients is to think creatively and come up with innovative solutions -- we know that our reputation as being one of the top real estate firms in New York City comes from this commitment.  

From residential to commercial deals, Oxford agents are ready to help our clients find their perfect place in New York City. We would love to hear from you today and look forward to assisting you as you navigate through the always changing waters of the real estate market.