THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION PROCEEDS APACE

To those of us of a certain age, this is a vaguely unsettling development:

Manhattan’s Plaza district, the area near Central Park that commands the nation’s highest office rents, has a glut of space as financial firms cut back and tenants seek trendier neighborhoods south of Midtown. . . .

“Right now, Midtown just isn’t cool,” Jason Pizer, president of Trinity Real Estate, a landlord in the area, said last week at a forum sponsored by Bisnow Media, a publisher of online business newsletters. “The people who come to our buildings, they use words like ‘dude’ and ‘totally.’ They pound you, they don’t shake your hand. And right now, those are the ones making the space decisions.” [Emph. added]

So the fist-bump has replaced the handshake in New York real estate circles? Heaven help us all. Am starting to really believe glen plaid and wingtips aren’t coming back any time soon. . .