The Northern end of the Garden State, specifically the west bank of the Hudson River opposite lower Manhattan, has also been recognized as Wall Street west. Many financial institutions and insurance firms have located in Jersey City and Hoboken due to the lower rental rates. New Jersey does have affordable and available space. Asking prices for rents have dropped from $24-25 per square foot to $22-23 per square foot, and may continue to drop. Lehman Brothers moved into a 100,000-sq.-ft. (9,929-sq.-m.) trading floor facility in the Datek building in Jersey City. American Express has taken 1 million sq. ft. (92,900 sq. m.) of space in Parsipany. Both were tenants of the World Financial Center, which was damaged in the World Trade Center attack.
      According to David Schenkel, managing director of CB Richard Ellis' New Jersey office, sublet space continues to be returned to the market in the New Jersey Route 287 corridor. Much of the space is from firms who have put plans for expansion on hold, at least until the latter part of this year. "Business has taken a wait and see attitude," notes Schenkel. "But I am optimistic. New Jersey is one of the top five commercial real estate markets in the country and firms will continue to locate here because of the proximity to New York, the biotech industries and the manufacturing firms."