What a difference a year makes. The New York metropolitan area posted solid gains in office construction and employment, and 2005 looks even better. The Big Apple will enjoy the construction of million-square-foot trophy jobs for the foreseeable future, including a $400 million headquarters for The New York Times and an enormous office tower for Bank of America in midtown. The 1.7-million-square-foot 7 World Trade Center is scheduled to open in December 2005, and a total of five office towers with 10 million square feet of office and retail space at the World Trade Center site are on the drawing boards and expected to open in 2010. Across the Hudson, New Jersey has absorbed millions of square feet of office space during the past year. The Garden State is getting a reputation as the Warehouse State. With easy interstate access to all parts of the most densely populated region of the United States, huge warehouses are sprouting up along Exit 8A on the New Jersey Turnpike, and the area has become one of the leading warehousing hubs in the nation.
ELECTRICAL WHOLESALERS' SALES (in millions of dollars)
