A New Gem Shines in Manhattan

Photos by David Kasnic 

Back in 1941, when the German Nazis invaded Netherlands and Belgium, they forced thousands of Orthodox Jews in the diamond business to move, and they flew all the way to New York. Local diamond dealers were already established in the area between 5th and 6th Avenue, between West 46th and 47th St. This massive arrival of Europeans diamond dealers reinforced the origin of what we know today as the Diamond District.

The Diamond District, an area typically known for its low buildings is welcoming this week a new neighbor: The International Gem Tower.

Developer firm, Extell Development Co. is opening this 34-story building. This $750 million glass and steel tower is equipped with the latest technology, including iris scanners, 350 cameras scattered throughout the building, and tracking technology that notifies security if someone working in the building is in a spot where they don't usually go. All visitors will need to register and have their four finger prints taken at the front desk.

Photo by David Kasnic

The developer is asking $96 a square foot in yearly rent, one of the higher asking rents for the neighborhood. Current tenants include Alca Amit, a courier company for the diamond and gem industry; Eurostar, a global diamond conglomerate and the Gemological Institute of America, which acquired three full floors and nearly 80,000 square feet of space.

Although the building is meant to be for jewelers and related companies, they will also be offering office space that goes from the 21st to the 34th floor. Extells is attempting to lease or sale in bulk to businesses that are not related to jewelry. Might we see any of the big executive suite providers leasing one or various floors in the building? Perhaps, and we certainly hope so, as international companies that wanted to relocate in the area did not have modern options before. The tower is located walking distance to other popular areas of offices in New York, such as Rockefeller Plaza, 5th Avenue and Broadway.

If you need an office near the Diamond district, give us a call at (866) 354-5478. Our team of local experts will advise and suggest the best office for your business.

Love Your Job and Get Better Results

If you are one of those people that arrive to work with a smile and really enjoy their work, then you’re part of the 30% that feel engaged and motivated to go to work. 

The 2013 State of the American Workplace Report made by Gallup, surveyed 150,000 Americans, between full time and part time workers, and revealed that 52% of the workers do not feel excited about their jobs. 

The remaining 18% are highly disengaged, a battle that companies are losing with this small percentage of people, in spite of their motivating plans. This small group cost the US $550 billion annually due to lost productivity. 

Some companies have identified what their team want in their workplace, that’s why in some offices like  Google’s HQ you will find a slide, ping-pongs, billiards, free vending machines, push scooters and space to create your own music. Although that’s mainly for a younger audience, some companies are starting to adapt some parts of this model and that mix of recreation and work has given positive results. But this only covers the environment; it doesn’t go to the roots of job satisfaction.

The most traditional way of motivating or engaging people with their jobs is by offering commissions, raises or bonuses, and although that strategy may sometimes work, it’s not attacking the root problem causing dissatisfaction. 

The question is how to get excited those 18% who are disengaged, and the 52% who constantly feel “bored”. The answer is not as simple as offering benefits like catered meals, offering beer on tap in the kitchen or free massages; sometimes satisfaction goes beyond those things. "There's a lot of research out there that says, although it depends on the employee, the perks come out as less important as job satisfaction," said Randy Allen, the associate dean of Cornell University's Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management.

Intangible things like being heard, working together, having the possibility to grow within the company, flexible working hours, and balance between life/ work are the fundamental elements that a job must have for a person to be satisfied. Of course, each person has its own motivations, but these elements will bring a complete package of what a person is expecting from a job. Otherwise your company will have openings each year as people will not last longer than a year vs an average of 4.4 years for all workers.

Once all these elements are mixed together, the company needs to make sure they continue growing the team with like-minded people and continue growing the culture of job satisfaction. 

And don’t forget an appropriate workplace will make all this process easier. Keep focused on your team and call us at (866)354.5478 so we can help you find the best office solution for your company.

The Most Annoying Co-workers

Annoying Co-Workers

Many companies and many independent professionals are changing their private offices to open spaces, co-working or shared offices. Some of the benefits are lowering your costs, being able to network and for companies, collaboration between their team increases significantly. 

Sharing space with a large group of people has proven to bring benefits, people tend to be more efficient, they work happier and it boosts their creativity. But being so close to other people can challenge our nerves and our patience; especially when the person right beside you makes weird noises the whole day, or likes to talk to loud on the phone and they end up distracting you. 

Here’s a list of the most annoying things in the office: 

• Noisy neighbor: When little things start happening every minute, it becomes a challenge to ignore them, even if you’re trying to isolate with your headphones. If you’ve ever had a person beside who clears their throat, sniffs or coughs every minute you’ll probably be identified. 

• I DON’T YELL! Sometimes people have listening problems or they get too excited during their calls and don’t realize their voice volume is starting to irritate and affect others. Especially when you’re on the phone and the other part can’t hear you but they hear your neighbor. 

• The artist: ah yes, the frustrated singer who think they can sing, but not really. This category includes those finger drummers who can’t stay still. The first songs are fun, but after 10 concerts you’ll be looking for a place to hide. 

• Anger management: Those who can’t control their temper can ruin your day. You might be in danger if that person has a bad day, if they lose their pen, if the sun isn’t shinning or if the internet is too slow. The best way to deal with “grumpy” is to fight back with a smile!

• Forgot something? There’s always that absent-minded person that leaves something everywhere they go. You’ll find their cell in the bathroom, their glasses in the kitchen and their coffee mug in the microwave. Remember that sandwich that has been in the fridge for 2 months? Guess who it belongs to! 

Every office is a world of its own. We’d like to hear from you, share with us the most annoying things in your office.

If you have not been able to deal with your neighbors annoying habits, give us a call at (866) 354-5478, we’ll help you find a private office rental or we’ll do our best to find a really fun office neighbor.

Top 5 Apps For Busy Professionals

Top 5 apps for professionals

According to a study by eMarketers, in 2012 there were 115 million smartphone users in the US, and with hundreds of apps available we know it can be overwhelming and even confusing to know which are the best ones for you.

Stop playing Angry Birds! Here’s a list of the best 5 apps that will help busy professionals get the most out of their smartphone. 

• Reading business cards: Cardmunch is a free tool that will not only read a business card but will also convert it to a Linkedin contact automatically, showing all the profile information and contacts you have in common with that person. Very useful in conferences. 

• Organize ideas: Great ideas come when you least expect them, that’s what Evernote is for. A free app that will help you organize all those crazy ideas you might have. Save comments about an article you saw online, remind yourself to buy that book your friend had, take pictures and include them to that new project you’re doing and you can include tags to find them easily. 

• Be productive: A free app that will help you organize all your tasks is Toodledo. On a busy day you have a meeting, need to buy a birthday gift, pay your credit card, buy some groceries, finish the sales report and book a hotel for your next business trip. This tool will help you arrange your to-do list, add importance levels, share them with other people and activate alarms. 

• Storage: Google Drive or Dropbox allow you to share and access files from any device in the world. Whether its videos, pictures, presentations or any type of file, you can store them safely in the cloud. Basic accounts are free.

• Save passwords: The average person uses 10 passwords a day, and if you handle any company accounts that number might grow to 15. Having one password for everything is extremely risky, but having 10 different passwords is extremely confusing. LastPass is free on desktops or if you want to have it in your phone there’s a premium subscription. 

And one last suggestion that will also make your life much easier, when looking for an office for rent, call us at (866) 354-5478 or visit OfficeList!

Did we miss any useful app? Send us your comments and share with us any apps that make your life easier. 

Take a Look at Dropbox Offices

Courtesy of Geremia Design

Haven’t you ever wanted to take a peek at your neighbor's office to see how they arranged the space and how their decoration looks? Well, we also enjoy taking a look at the offices from the biggest companies in America.

Courtesy of Geremia Design

And today we’ll show you the offices of a company that has grown in the last 6 years. Dropbox was born in 2007, when two MIT friends got tired of sending files via email, to work from different computers. Since then, they’ve been offering people a virtual space to store up to 2 gigabytes on their free accounts. A wonderful tool for companies who have remote workers and base their work on collaboration, as people can store, share and synchronize files on multiple devices.

Courtesy of Geremia Design

Last year, the company moved to their San Francisco offices located in China Basin, a space that occupies 87,000 square feet and holds its entire team of nearly 280 members.

As many other Internet startups who try to keep a flat hierarchy, this is an open space with no offices, it not only allows more space to grow but also helps towards design inspiration.

Courtesy of Geremia Design

The conference room is full of Lego bricks, and meeting rooms are named creatively (romance chamber, the break up room). The office has also a gym, a cafeteria and a music room full of guitars, a piano and other instruments. Push scooters are also available to go from one place to another, there’s no time to waste but they certainly know how to do it in a fun way!

Courtesy of Geremia Design

Other startups have also chosen to be located nearby, as Airbnb is located in Design District and Zynga, the creator of Farmville and other popular Facebook games have their offices South of Market (SOMA).

If you want to be located near all these startups, give us a call at (866) 354-5478 and we’ll help you find an office to rent in San Francisco’s financial district.

Photo: Paul Chinn

How To Beat Procrastination

Beating procrastination at the office

Monday 8 a.m, you arrive at your office, go to the kitchen for a coffee, and then talk with your work buddies about the weekend, you know you have thousands of emails to read but first you need to check Facebook, almost ready…but wait, you need some music to start the day, yikes It’s 9 a.m already! A few hours later you’re preparing yourself a snack and on your way back to your office you joined the conversation about your favorite hobby.

You’re not the only one! According to an article from Psychology Today, 20% of people chronically look for distractions, avoiding their daily tasks and end up procrastinating. Here are the main reasons why people don’t face their daily responsibilities and some tips on how to overcome them. 

1. You don’t know where to start

Stop looking at the big picture, start from a single idea. It’s like unraveling a knot; you need to find one of the extremes to do some progress. 

2. It seems too difficult

Haven’t you succeeded before? Of course you have! Complexity tends to be increased in our minds, but breaking down our tasks into steps or stages is the best way to simplify them and remove those blocks from our minds.

3. Rebellion

Nobody likes to be imposed things, but nobody wants to fight with the boss. So find yourself a motivation. Give yourself a treat once you finish, that will help you finish sooner. 

4. Work overload

Take the bull by the horns! Start by the most difficult task. It will take most of your time and require extra dedication, but once you’re finished, the rest will be easy and your mind will not be blocked. Relieving extra pressures helps you be more proactive. 

5. It’s not perfect

You’ve got a great idea but are unable to execute it or can’t find the right words to capture it? Talk to someone else, brainstorming helps to have different views you might have omitted before. After all, two heads are better than one.

If you’re the CEO and have trouble dealing with your employee’s distractions at the office, the best approach is to schedule breaks. Studies from Florida State University show that every 90 minutes our bodies go from a state of alertness to fatigue; that means that a quick 5-10 minute break every 90 minutes will make your team more efficient. 

If working from home is giving you too many distractions, give us a call at (866) 354-5478 and we’ll help you find an office in the US or Canada.

Facebook Finds New Office in New York

Facebook offices in New York

Just last month, Yahoo announced they would be unifying all their New York offices into one large office in Times Square, and now this week Facebook has announced they signed a 10 year lease at 770 Broadway taking 100,000 square feet. Some of their neighbors will be companies like AOL and Huffington Post, which are based in the same building. 

This new space is almost twice as big as the one their current 200 employees occupy at 335 Madison Avenue.

Just as financial companies were the big players of New York’s real estate industry a few years ago, today tech companies are taking over. 

The city knows that, and it has contributed with $100 million and 11 acres of public land toward an applied sciences campus on Roosevelt Island, a joint venture between Cornell University and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology slated to open in 2017.

New York has also promoted the creation of a regulation that attracts startups as well as tech professionals to consider New York their home. 

In 2010 there were 90,273 people working at high-tech companies in the city, a 30% increase from 2005, according to a report last year from the Center for an Urban Future, and there were 486 tech startups formed in the city since 2007 that have received some investment from angel investors, venture capital firms or other private investors. The city’s aggressive strategy is showing fruitful results. 

As for the areas that companies prefer, while Yahoo opted for the busy Times Square area, LinkedIn preferred a landmark and went for the Empire State building, Google chose Chelsea and many others like About.com, Nielsen Communications, 10gen and Sandow Media have decided to take advantage of the low prices and rent an office Downtown New York.

Facebook employees are expected to move to their new office in early 2014. The best news is there are executive suites in 770 Broadway and you can also be one of Facebook neighbors!

Give us a call at (866) 354-5478 and we’ll help you create your own office list of options.