Staten Island, although the smallest borough of New York City with a population of less than 500,000 people, has shown many positive signs of growth in recent times.

Major Economic Drivers For Staten Island

The slower acclimation of technology start-ups into the Staten Island community in comparison to the other four New York boroughs means that the area predominantly relies on other economic drivers to grow and sustain its economy, although this is starting to change.

One of the faster growing economic drivers for Staten Island is tourism. The VisitStatenIsland.com website was started in 2009 to help drive more tourism revenue to the area and the initial results indicate that visitors are responding.

The main economic driver for Staten Island remains its healthcare system. One of the more unique aspects of Staten Island is that it runs its own hospitals and is completely independent of the New York City government. Health research and healthcare remain a prime economic factor for  Staten Island residents.

Primary Industries And Employers For Staten Island

The most prominent industry on Staten Island is healthcare. Richmond University Medical Center and Staten Island University Hospital are two of the larger employers on the island for a variety of trades and professions.

Running a close second as far as dominant industries on Staten Island is the financial sales and insurance industries. There are nearly as many people employed in the financial and insurance industries on Staten Island as there are in healthcare.

Business Funding Opportunities On Staten Island

The Start-Up NY program was created to entice technology companies to come to New York City and boost revenue, which has been a huge success across the New York City boroughs. The College of Staten Island (CSI) has been designated as the center for the Start-Up NY program in Staten Island, which aims to assist start-ups and businesses relating to technology and research industries, along with big data companies, locate to Tax-free NY areas in the borough.

One of the primary resources that Staten Island businesses use to find funding is the Staten Island Business Outreach Center. This is an organization that is run by local government officials and prominent Staten Island business professionals to help offer funding and other resources to Staten Island businesses.

GoBizNYC is another organization that helps to offer funding options for businesses on Staten Island. But Staten Island’s desire to remain relatively independent of New York City business resources has meant that the GoBizNYC program has been under-utilized by Staten Island businesses.

Average Cost Of Office Space In Staten Island

A large proportion of the new office space being built on Staten Island is designed for the medical profession. Several new office parks have just been completed and they are mostly aimed at the medical practices and research organizations.

The average cost for office space in Staten Island is around $27 per square foot. These range from rural office buildings to the high rises that are found downtown. But even in the high rise office structures, rents can be as low as $20 per square foot.

Highest And Lowest Office Rents In Staten Island

The continuing development of the Staten Island business community is extremely evident in its wide range of office space costs. For the most part, Staten Island office space rents for between $20 and $29 per square foot.

The lowest office rent on Staten Island can be found in the Richmond Avenue area and they go for around $7.75 per square foot. The highest office rent on Staten Island is found in the South Avenue district and goes for around $156 per square foot.

Further reading: New York City’s Central Business Districts

More information on office space availability can be found here.

Resources:

http://www.city-data.com/city/Staten-Island-New-York.html

http://www.sichamber.com/

http://startup.ny.gov/

http://www.gobiznyc.org/

http://liparanormalinvestigators.com/simuseum.shtml

http://www.visitstatenisland.com/

http://www.loopnet.com/New-York/Staten-Island_Office-Space-For-Lease/

https://42floors.com/office-space/us/ny/new-york/staten-island