Bargain-hungry businesses look for northern exposure.

Architecture firms and their creative ilk who have long been attracted to midtown south, whose hip atmosphere and airy lofts serve up the perfect office space for tenants with an inclination for the artsy and fashionable, have begun pushing towards its less expensive fringes as rents in hot submarkets like SoHo, Union Square and the meatpacking district continue to chart a dramatic path upwards.

CB Richard Ellis broker Jodi Roberts who, besides working on the team that is leasing 7 World Trade Center, focuses on the midtown south market, estimates that rents there have jumped by as much as $10 per s/f over the past two to three years, a mighty increase considering that average asking rents are now $35 per s/f, according to Cushman & Wakefield data.

Firms have responded by heading north, Roberts indicated, where although the neighborhood might not have the same cache as more coveted midtown south hotspots, tenants can get spaces of a similar style and quality for rents that are often well below $30 per s/f.

Roberts cited architecture firms Allied Works and DaSilva as two such recent examples whose space searches she handled with fellow CBRE broker, Matt Bergey. Seattle-based Allied, which was founded by star architect, Brad Cloepfil, and may have until recently taken an address in a place like SoHo to nudge along its rising reputation, instead opted for the 5,000 s/f skylighted penthouse at 12 West 27th Street, a space whose rents were only in the high $20 per s/f range but aesthetically could stand toe-to-toe with space in the market's higher end neighborhoods.

DaSilva ventured even farther--perhaps because it was looking for more space and cost was therefore of more concern--and relocated from West 28th Street to 9,000 s/f of space on the tenth floor of 104 West 29th Street.

"They're pushing out of established areas because rents have jumped up to 40-50% in the last two years," Roberts said. "But they're finding great space."

In describing the rise of midtown south market, even the veteran Roberts had moments when she seemed a little surprised by its performance. She recalled a deal three years ago when she relocated the yoga studio where she is a member, Bikram Yoga, to 841 Broadway for what was then considered average rents of well below $20 per s/f. Now the same space in the building would go for above $30 per s/f Roberts has observed. A more southerly stretch Broadway between Houston and Prince Street is where Roberts says she has perhaps noticed the biggest jump in prices.

She is currently brokering a deal there for a tenant she could not name because of the ongoing negotiations, but was able to reveal that rents will be in the $40s per s/f. Hotter neighborhoods still are a draw for some though who are unwilling to pass up such things as views of Union Square or the quaint cobblestone streets of the meatpacking district. Roberts just handled a 7,500 s/f lease for public relations firm Access Communications at 19 Union Square West where rents are in the mid $30 per s/f range. She also brokered a 3,800 s/f deal for law firm Purrington Moody at 320 West 13th Street, another building where rents have jumped roughly $10 per s/f since just a few years ago.

Roberts noted that the perception of core midtown south neighborhoods as being more desirable than the northern fringe where such firms Allied Works and DaSilva have moved is starting to diminish, a phenomenon that probably won't lead to lessening rents in SoHo and Union Square as much as higher rents at the fringes.

"When you look at 29th Street there are those cheap clothing stores and schmaltzy flower shops," Roberts said.

"But Madison Park has changed and now all of a sudden 27th through 29th Streets don't look so far from things. The place is evolving for the better."