"We talk about it as a new garment center," said Faith Hope Consolo, vice chairman of Garrick-Aug Associates, a commercial leasing firm.

It was born of conversations set in motion by Gronich & Company, a leasing firm whose managing director, James P. Stuckey, is New York's former development commissioner.

"This year, I would like something like kitchenware," said Ms. Cassin, who lives in Kansas City, Mo., where she is an assistant in a retail leasing firm.

So the leasing firms are placing big orders, too.

On April 22nd Shizushin Lease, a leasing firm, filed for court protection against its creditors with debts of 256 billion.

John Dowling of Cushman & Wakefield, another top leasing firm, said: "There are just a ton of impediments to moving.

Mr. Kinzelberg, who is 54, is the founder of Sequel Capital Corporation, an industrial leasing firm based in suburban Deerfield.

The total Lower Manhattan inventory of primary office space is 108 million square feet, according to Cushman & Wakefield, the leasing firm, and 17.1 percent of it is available for leasing.

Faith Hope Consolo, senior managing director of Garrick-Aug Worldwide, a large retail leasing firm, doubts that E-retail can conquer traditional retail.

With rent potential of this magnitude, "every new building is trying to maximize its retail space," said Albert Bialek, president of Albert Bialek Associates, a leasing firm.