At the NYSE, this space for rent

NEW YORK — What do you do when a cathedral of capitalism becomes antiquated? You turn it into New York's best party space.

The New York Stock Exchange has lost most of its famous shoulder-to-shoulder bustle in the age of computerized trading. So it's hoping its status as an icon of American finance will be a popular draw for cocktail receptions, analyst presentations and other festivities.

The exchange, where traders have nervously watched tickers and shouted orders for more than 100 years, is already available for some events. It wants to expand that to 1,000 a year, double the number from three years ago.

Think black tie, not Black Monday.

"Planners are always looking for something that's different and unique, and there's only one stock exchange," said Ken Edwards, an executive at SmartSource Rentals who serves as the president of the New York chapter of a national meeting planners organization. "From an experience standpoint, that it's getting a facelift now is an absolute sign that they think that there's a recovery going on."

In addition to the trading floor, the exchange rents out updated meeting spaces to companies and charities. They include vaulted-ceiling dining rooms and a lounge with gilt-edged walls that used to be a club for stock traders. Company officials wouldn't say what they were spending on the renovations, which are expected to be finished by the end of next year.

It's a renovation borne out of necessity. Hosting meetings is a small part of the company's overall profits, but shows how far the building has come from its days as the center of the daily churn global capitalism. Since the last renovation of the building in 1995, the business model of the stock exchange has changed drastically.

Fewer traders than ever actually work on the floor. Steven Grasso, the director of institutional sales at Stuart Frankel & Co., compared stepping onto the floor of the New York Stock Exchange for the first time in 1994 to walking out of the dugout at Yankees Stadium. Traders stood shoulder to shoulder, screaming at each other and into telephones, their feet littered with discarded orders.

"Now, I can do more with my hand-held device than I ever could back then," he says, swinging his arms wide. No other trader was within 10 feet.

A decade ago, the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange accounted for roughly 80 percent of the volume of the blue chip stocks listed on it. Now, because of regulatory changes and the rise of electronic exchanges such as the Kansas City-based BATS, the figure is closer to 25 percent.

The building and trading floor are attractive for suitors like electronic-only exchange Nasdaq. "The trading floor is fantastic for marketing," said Michael Wong, an analyst at Morningstar. "Every company would like to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, and that's an intangible that BATS or another competitor can't duplicate."