Office districts, including related hotel and retail uses, often arise near big-city transportation terminals. Having multiple office districts is quite common in large Asian and European cities.

Grand Central Station and the current Grand Central Terminal (1903) brought thousands of suburban commuters to Midtown. Growth of this district was reinforced by Penn Station (1910) and, later, Rockefeller Center, as well as new subway lines serving the area. Meanwhile, the original business district, clustered around the stock exchanges and big banking houses downtown, continued to grow.