Bryant Park, a rapidly growing neighborhood at the heart of Manhattan, has transformed into a highly sought-after location to start or grow a business. Though the park is well-known by tourists and in popular culture as the site of Bank of America Winter Village, that’s only one of the many features of Bryant Park. After all, Bryant Park is part of Midtown Manhattan, the world’s largest central business district.
Bryant Park houses offices for a variety of companies, such as law firms, textile companies, and software manufacturers. Notably, software company Salesforce.com works out of Salesforce Tower New York in Bryant Park. In addition, Bank of America has offices in the Bank of America Tower—the fifth tallest building in New York City—at One Bryant Park.
Bryant Park Office Space | Lease Data & Trends
When it comes to the commercial real estate market, Bryant Park is considered part of the Midtown Manhattan submarket. Midtown Manhattan offers more than 282.6 million square feet of office space, and right now, about 7% of it is vacant and available for new tenants. Developers are currently adding about 17 million more square feet of office space in Midtown Manhattan.
The average asking rent in Midtown Manhattan is just over $86 per square foot, which is more expensive than the New York City average of $81 per square foot. Midtown Manhattan has more class A space than class B. Class A office space rents are about $93 per square foot while class B space is significantly cheaper, at just under $64 per square foot.
Crystal City Commercial Space For Lease | By the numbers
| Office Space for Rent ($/sqft) | Class A | Class B |
| Garment | $104 | $60 |
| Gramercy Park | $106 | $65 |
| Grand Central | $78 | $62 |
What Our Brokers Say About Bryant Park
Bryant Park rests between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue and between 40th Street and 42nd Street. Times Square lies just to the west; the Garment District to the southwest; Murray Hill to the east; and the Rockefeller Center to the north. The not-for-profit organization Bryant Park Corporation manages Bryant Park, even though the park is also part of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Bryant Park, the most densely populated park on the planet, boasts low crime rates, a calm and quiet vibe, and a beautiful and clean environment. It was the first area of New York City to provide free Wi-fi, and it also has public bathrooms.
Bryant Park is very beautiful and pedestrian-friendly and offers plenty of public transportation options like the rest of New York City. The 42nd Street-Bryant Park/Fifth Avenue station complex is conveniently located on 42nd street in Bryant Park. Travelers can take trains 7, D, F, M, and B from this station. For access by bus, express buses to Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens stop directly at the park. Additionally, The Port Authority Bus Terminal is located nearby at Eighth Avenue and and 41st Street providing access to points beyond New York. The closest airport to Bryant Park is LaGuardia Airport (LGA), which is only about 20 minutes away by car. Frequent bus service to Newark Liberty International Airport and JFK also stop at the park providing quick and convenient travel options for the budget conscious business traveler.
Surrounding the park is a grand collection of impressive office buildings. The aforementioned Salesforce Tower, formerly called 3 Bryant Park, was originally the headquarters for New York Telephone. Since then, insurance giant MetLife, Lloyds Banking Group, Whole Foods Market, Apollo Global Management, and Equinox Jewelry have rented or still rent space in Salesforce Tower. Along with the Bank of America Tower—the seventh tallest building in the nation—Bryant Park also houses 7 Bryant Park, a 30-story office tower at the intersection of Bryant Park and Avenue of Americas. W. R. Grace Building, located at Sixth Avenue, provides office space for Bain & Company, Cooley, and People’s Bank of China, among other tenants.
Working in Bryant Park has many perks. Need to escape the four walls of your office building and take a stroll for inspiration? Just step outside and explore the lawn, the gardens, and the various pieces of artwork in Bryant Park. People commonly eat lunch in the park when weather allows. If you need to do research, just walk to the Main Branch of the New York Public Library right inside the park. Need a bite to eat or want to schedule a relaxed business meeting? Just check out one of these Yelp-recommended business lunch destinations: Calle Dao, Between the Bread, or Tabletime.
Bryant Park Neighborhood History
Bryant Park earned its designation as a public space all the way back in 1686, when New York’s governor at the time, Thomas Dongan, deemed it so. Years later, in 1823, Bryant Park served as a graveyard for the poor. It did not become a park until 1847, when Reservoir Square, named after the adjacent Croton Distributing Reservoir, opened to the public.
Reservoir Square got a new name in 1884—Bryant Park—after William Cullen Bryant, the editor of the New York Evening Post. Soon after, developers began constructing the New York Public Library, which still stands in modern-day Bryant Park. Over the years, the park suffered neglect, experienced partial revitalization, and even served as the site of a rally attended by 40,000 people trying to end the War in Vietnam.
The future of the park changed in a very dramatic and permanent way with the establishment of the Bryant Park Restoration Corporation (BPRC) in 1980. Dan Biederman, together with Andrew Heiskell—who chaired Time Inc.—charged the BPRC with the task of revitalizing the park into a safe, productive, and beautiful place people would want to explore. The BPRC improved park paths, installed lights, set up gardens, added new entrances, and even added public restrooms. The new and improved Bryant Park reopened in 1992.
