If you’ve spent time in quaint New England cottages, you know that unique indoor environment can conjure feelings of warmth, happiness and comfort. Exposed wood inside of houses provides sensations of coziness and security that have been emulated in biophilic design — a term referring to the human connection with nature — across America. So why hasn’t this warm and healthy feeling spread to America’s offices? We’ve seen the mill brick buildings and the steel and concrete office developments scattered along America’s highways and suburban areas. Some of us may have even worked in them. They are reliable, cost-effective and provide tenants with the basic amenities needed to get their work done. But the American office building is changing. Today’s companies demand more for their employees and are recognizing that comfortable offices with exceptional amenities are quickly becoming the new standard to attract top, young talent. According to Cushman & Wakefield’s 2019 “CRE Perspectives on Coworking” report, nearly two-thirds of companies are utilizing some form of coworking space. Look at the most popular coworking spaces in the country — many provide biophilic design elements to keep occupants happy. In early October, building owner Farley White, along with Cushman & Wakefield, …
As the saying goes, “nothing worth having comes easy.” While this is true in many ways — especially in the real estate business — the multifamily market in New Hampshire is putting this saying to the test. Design and technology trends represent innovative ways to make life easier for new residents. The result is a revolution in convenience and lifestyle across developments from Nashua to Pittsburg and everywhere in between. Five trends in particular are driving this revolution in the multifamily space. 1. Maximum Flexibility “Flexibility” is a term thrown around in real estate now more than ever. The line between traditional commercial and residential spaces is blurry, with an ever-increasing focus on creating flexible work and gathering areas. Cubical farms are out and coworking spaces are rapidly expanding. The result is a blending of residential and commercial experiences, with office décor that feels like home and homes designed to act as secondary offices. Collaborative gathering areas, which would have been considered foreign just 10 years ago, are now a focal point in new buildouts. Tenants and developers see these spaces as “must haves,” not “nice to haves.” Flexibility also spills over to simple multifamily concepts such as package deliveries …
Retail inventory in Southern New Hampshire totaled 29.8 million square feet in 2017, a modest decline of 59,400 square feet, or 0.2 percent, largely due to retail demolitions and conversions to non-retail space, including auto dealerships, office, and residential. Some former retailer spaces that have been demolished include the 17,800-square-foot Grenon Trading Co. in Bedford, the 10,700-square-foot New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet in Salem, and the 8,400-square-foot Weathervane Restaurant in Salem. The big story in the market is the notable decline in vacancy. Several retailers absorbed large vacancies, reducing unoccupied space by more than 400,000 square feet, and cutting the vacancy rate from 10.5 percent in 2016 to the current level of 9.1 percent. Larger retailers who filled vacant space include Chunky’s Cinema in Manchester, which opened in a portion of the former Lowe’s store; Hobby Lobby in Nashua, filling a vacant Market Basket at Somerset Plaza; and Ocean State Job Lot in Seabrook, which opened in the former Walmart at Southgate Shopping Center. As a result of relatively stable inventory and considerable decline in vacancy, the region finished the year with positive net absorption of 352,400 square feet. There’s been no change in the top 10 largest regional …
With a statewide unemployment rate of 2.7 percent, New Hampshire has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation, and is well below the national unemployment rate of 4.4 percent. The New Hampshire labor market has continued to tighten, with unemployment having dropped 0.2 percentage points since third quarter of last year. Employment gains have not been seen in two traditionally industrial sectors: trade, transportation & utilities or manufacturing. Employment in these sectors has remained relatively flat year-over-year, at -0.4 percent and 0.6 percent growth respectively. Year-to-date industrial absorption was pushed up to 623,485 square feet by continued positive absorption in the third quarter. The three largest submarkets — Nashua, Manchester, and Portsmouth —made up the majority of that absorption, while two of the smaller submarkets — Concord and Bedford — are the only ones experiencing negative year-to-date absorption. The largest new lease of the fourth quarter of 2017 was Bensonwood Woodworking’s lease of more than 100,000 square feet of space at 25 Production Avenue in Keene. The space will be used mainly for manufacturing purposes. On the capital markets front, the largest transaction of the quarter was the purchase of 55 and 85 Mechanic Street, a 119,000-square-foot multi-tenant …
MANCHESTER, N.H. – Mark Whelan of NorthMarq Capital has arranged $2.4 million in earn-out/supplemental financing for a 123-unit multifamily property located in Manchester. The transaction was structured with an eight-year term on a 28-year amortization schedule. NorthMarq arranged financing for the borrower through its relationship with a regional bank.
Driven by strong leasing activity, the New Hampshire Seacoast industrial market now has a limited supply of available options. The overall Seacoast vacancy rate is currently 5.6 percent. Compare that to the end of 2010, when vacancy in the market hit 12.9 percent. Narrowing the focus to the Portsmouth industrial market (excluding the Pease Tradeport), the vacancy hit 8 percent in 2010 but it had dropped to 3 percent at the end of 2015 — and at the end of June 2016, the vacancy rate hovered at 2 percent. This significant drop in vacancy leaves users with less viable product to choose from and is pushing them away from the Interstate 95 corridor of Portsmouth and Seabrook. Industrial Users Turn to Ground-Up Development Users in Portsmouth and surrounding communities, unable to find existing buildings to meet their needs, have turned to ground-up development in areas outside of Portsmouth and further away from the Interstate 95 corridor. Two large industrial users, Rand Whitney and Stonewall Kitchen, broke ground on projects in 2015 and have recently moved into their new facilities. Rand Whitney, part of the Kraft Group, originally opened a corrugated cardboard sheet plant in Dover back in 1972. Over the …
After a lackluster first quarter, the Southern New Hampshire office sector is showing strong potential as we head into the heart of 2015 and as the recovery that is firmly entrenched in major hubs like Boston begins to make its way to secondary markets. Notably, the trend toward reurbanization and the growing popularity of live/stay/play opportunities are driving activity in Portsmouth and promise to bolster activity in lagging submarkets like Manchester and Nashua. As companies increasingly gravitate to downtown locations, Portsmouth is seeing steady demand. In fact, its 3 million-square-foot office inventory boasts the lowest vacancy rate (11 percent) and highest average asking rents ($20.31 per square foot) of the six New Hampshire office submarkets tracked by Cushman & Wakefield. This vibrant seacoast city is the first New Hampshire market supporting speculative construction. Farley White built the 67,000-square-foot North Wing addition to 100 Arboretum Drive, bringing the building’s total to approximately 127,000 square feet. Our team serves as leasing agent for the property, where multiple deals are in the pipeline. At 249 Corporate Drive, the Katz Co. is building a 37,000-square-foot building and recently leased a significant portion of the space to Loftware Inc. Renovation, redevelopment and repurposing of older …
While Southern New England gambles on casino development, shopping centers are the game of choice in Seacoast New Hampshire. DDR Corp., Waterstone Retail and New England Development have all chosen to invest in major new ventures in the sales tax-free state, and they are expanding their horizons for locations, retail tenants and customers. Supporting retail development, housing activity continues to be robust in Rockingham and Strafford counties. The latest Seacoast shopping center launch is Waterstone Retail’s Granite Ridge Marketplace, at exit 15 of the Spaulding Turnpike in Rochester, N.H. The development plans to capitalize on the Route 11 tourist corridor as well as the populations in the southern Lakes and northern Seacoast regions. (See sidebar below.) With Holiday Inn Express and multiple restaurants already in place, the Granite Ridge District shows great promise as a regional destination and attraction. Combining customers of the Lakes and Seacoast regions, Rochester is a hub of development activity. The Spaulding Turnpike expansion involved an investment of $135 million and has transformed the six Rochester exits. Rochester Crossing by The Wilder Companies (exit 13) is anchored by Lowe’s Home Improvement, Kohl’s and PetSmart, and features Buffalo Wild Wings, GameStop, and Sally Beauty Supply. IHOP Restaurant …
With economic improvement and job gains returning the region to its pre-recession vitality, the Southern New Hampshire office sector through mid-year 2014 has enjoyed renewed momentum. The state has nearly regained all of its jobs lost during the downturn, resulting in an unemployment rate of 4.4 percent, which is well below the current national average of 6.3 percent. At the same time, the picture has changed a bit. The hard-hit financial services sector is rebounding, although slowly, while notable expansion in business services, technology, education and health services has translated to a surge in demand for office space among diverse industries. Over the past several months, Comcast leased 147,000 square feet in Hudson; Hospital Corporation of America leased 48,000 square feet in Salem; Anthem Health of New Hampshire took 46,000 square feet in Manchester; and Citizens Bank committed to 29,418 square feet in Manchester. In Bedford, Mass Mutual committed to 18,000 square feet while engineering firm Vanasse Hangen Brustlin took 19,000 square feet. This steady activity has led to improving fundamentals across the board. The overall office vacancy rate fell to 17.6 percent during the first quarter (compared to a long-term average of 18.6 percent and a recession–prompted high of …
Along the Seacoast in New England, the industrial sector has been busy during the past 12 months with a number of sales and leases, reflecting the steady recovery of the economy. There is more activity and we are even seeing a new crop of startups in the market looking for space. Buyers have found opportunities to pick up industrial properties at attractive prices and while locking in low interest rates from commercial local banks offering SBA and conventional financing. The largest recent deal in the market is SigSauer’s lease of a 206,000-square-foot facility at The Pease International Tradeport. The Exeter, New Hampshire-based company is making a substantial investment in building upgrades and new equipment before moving in. Rochester, New Hampshire, was successful in attracting a new 343,000-square-foot project at The Granite State Business Park. The building is a joint project between Albany Engineered Composites and Safran, a French aerospace company. The building will be located on a 50-acre parcel and will employ approximately 400 workers. Westinghouse is expanding from its existing base in Newington to an 80,000-square-foot building at the nearby Pease International Tradeport. The company has signed a lease at this high-bay building and is completing renovations before moving …
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