Lonely Last Days in the Suburban Office Park, and the insider followup

These articles and accompanying photos reminded me of my time spent in offices outside the city.

In my career, I’ve spent time in various office parks in the Boston area and Silicon Valley. Less so around New York, where I’ve been fortunate enough to stay mostly within the five boroughs. My last suburban office experience was just a short visit; it was a reminder that this wasn’t the right environment for me.

I was summoned to the Westchester office to meet with a group of people. As a city dweller, the idea of driving up to Westchester for a meeting wasn’t enticing. However, the company offered a shuttle from their headquarters that would get me there in time for my meeting.

I arrived early to ensure a good seat on whatever sort of bus or van was going to whisk us away to the bucolic hills of the north. This was a good call since it turned out to be a van and wasn’t spacious at all. It also seemed to be popular suburban meeting day for those not deemed important enough to warrant a private car (I’m sure the CEO doesn’t wait on a Midtown sidewalk to cram into a van with a bunch of corporate underlings). The driver took some pity and directed me to the co-pilot’s seat. The rest of the minions piled in the back like the kids and aunt Edna in National Lampoons Vacation–but with sport coats.

The ride up was quiet. Nobody tried to start a round of 99 bottles of beer. The only sounds were the occasional comments from the one or two people that were dialed into meetings. One of which was on the same conference call from when he got on line in Midtown to when he walked through the main doors of the office. Poor guy.

If I remember correctly, I opted to get a ride to the Metro North station for the return trip. This was a much better experience than sitting in traffic to come back into the city–even if I wasn’t the one doing the driving.

The office campus was massive and, as far as suburban office campuses go, quite nice. But, it was also pretty sleepy, and I imagine that anyone without a car felt just as trapped as I did. I’m sure that cafeteria, as nice as it was, would get old quickly.

That was my one and only trip to the Westchester office. That visit was before the pandemic, and I wonder how that office feels in 2025. I don’t believe it to be abandoned like those in the article linked above, but it’s got to be even sleepier than it was years ago.

Photo credit: Lila Barth for the NY Times