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Originally Posted by ardecila
That's possible but it's not clear to me what tech offices gain from agglomeration in places like Fulton Market. After all, the tech industry was born in the office parks of Silicon Valley and Rte 128.
The appeal of "tech hub" neighborhoods like Fulton, Mission Bay, Kendall Square, Chelsea seems to be purely about lifestyle amenities (bars, restaurants, general cool vibes). Not a lot of concrete business advantages. They justify it by saying that cool neighborhoods attract top talent, but that is less important post-Covid with all the remote work. At one time you could argue those areas offered cheaper rents too, but I'm not sure that's still true with the post-Covid collapse of traditional CBDs. Even Google decided the Loop was a stronger place for expansion than Fulton Market, once the cost of entry was lower.
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It is about marketing and gaining certain types of talent. There's a reason JPMC has a huge tech office near Hudson Yards as well as downtown Brooklyn, with a "cool" urban tech office feel instead of putting it on stuffy Park Ave (yes many tech ppl are there). A number of tech people from these types of companies have gone to work Google, Meta, Amazon, Apple, etc in the last small handful of years.
It's a huge talent grab right now in that section of the industry and now the typical FAANG etc are involved. Many of these companies are now vying for the same talent and the "we are a prestigious financial firm" alone doesn't cut it anymore for those roles ,especially as these roles have gained way more importance in the industry (JPMC's tech budget per year is nearly $15B now for example. Bank of America spends over $11B a year now).