New York City’s multifamily market in the second quarter of 2015 was able to continue the momentum of 2015’s first quarter and generate an impressive $3.30 billion in gross consideration. The quarter also saw 364 properties trade over 225 transactions, which is a 33 percent increase in transaction volume compared to the same quarter last year. Boosting significant growth, both Brooklyn and Manhattan saw a number of institutional and portfolio deals again this quarter. Of the trades in Manhattan, the top 10 percent made up approximately 73 percent of Manhattans dollar volume and four of the five largest multifamily transactions to occur in NYC happened in Brooklyn, which contributed to both submarkets ending the quarter with dollar volumes above $1 billion for the second time in as many quarters. Pricing throughout the city continues to evolve by most measures. Gross rent multiples have increased by 1.4 year-over-year and the average price per square foot in Manhattan has eclipsed $900. Compared to last year, average capitalization rates were down 60 basis points in The Bronx, and are down in Brooklyn and Northern Manhattan. These are the signs of solid fundamentals in the market. Institutional caliber multifamily deals had a big second …
Northeast Market Reports
The total retail inventory in the Rochester market amounts to 62.5 million square feet. Over the past year, the market has seen an overall decrease in the vacancy rate. The vacancy rate went from 8.0 percent in first quarter 2015 to 7.9 percent in the current quarter. Overall net absorption was positive 182,160 square feet. The general retail sector of the market, which includes all freestanding retail buildings except those contained within a center, reported a vacancy of 4.3 percent at the end of the second quarter 2015. The general retail space in Rochester is 34.3 million square feet. Average rental rates are currently at $12.26 per square foot. The shopping center sector — which consists of 19 million square feet and comprises community centers, neighborhood centers and strip centers — posted 10.9 percent total vacancy and average asking rates of $10.28 in second quarter 2015. Power center space is currently reported to be nearly 4 million square feet with a vacancy rate of 7.5 percent, and a slight decrease in rental rates to $13.46 per square foot. Malls in the Rochester market consist of lifestyle centers, regional malls and super-regional malls. The vacancy rate was 21.2 percent at the …
New York City is booming. The local economy is the strongest it has ever been, with total employment numbers reaching all-time highs totaling over 4.2 million jobs through May 2015. This has led to a strong office market performance during the first six months of 2015, as office-using employment continues to grow, up 2.5 percent over the past 12 months. Demand for space continues to keep availability below 10 percent, and at 9.6 percent, Manhattan availability is down 50 basis points from last year. Despite minimal increases in Manhattan overall asking rents, up only 2.9 percent year-over-year through June, some submarkets are exceeding previous record-high asking rents from 2008. The demand from creative and tech tenants looking for space in Midtown South over the past few years has pushed asking rents up 19.1 percent above all-time highs. Downtown overall average asking rents have reached historical highs this year as well, and at $57.78 per square foot, rents are 10.3 percent higher than the previous highs in 2008. Most of this increase can be attributed to new construction at the World Trade Center site. Despite this, Midtown overall asking rents are still 5.3 percent off historical highs from 2008. Throughout Midtown, …
Seven years after the worst recession this country has seen since the Great Depression, New York City is riding high again. Manhattan has emerged as a vital center for global retail activity where we continue to see dynamic growth — driven by its economic fundamentals, urban migration, and its cultural and lifestyle attractions. Gone are the days when suburban expansion sounded the death knell for high street retail. Since 2010, in the near-aftermath of the economic collapse and for the first time in decades, urban cores are growing at a faster rate than their suburban counterparts. Eighty percent of Americans now live in urban areas, and retailers and property owners in New York City and around the world are scrambling to adapt. Millennials represent 24 percent of the overall U.S. population and are leading this urban charge. They want to live close to work. They’re driven by technology — and they demand an omni-channel retail experience that integrates smartphone and tablet use with a personalized, service-oriented, in-store approach. And importantly, it’s estimated they will represent nearly 30 percent of U.S. retail spending — the total of which was $4.6 trillion this year — by 2020. Manhattan also continues to benefit …
In Fairfield and New Haven counties, growing rental housing demand will keep apartment vacancy tight throughout the year, despite a second consecutive year of elevated completions. Developers will complete 1,300 units this year, representing a minor drop from the number of apartments delivered last year. More than 700 of these new rentals will be in New Haven County. Another 1,500 rentals, mostly in Fairfield Country, were under construction in the first quarter of 2015, with deliveries slated for next year. Key projects for completion include the 160-unit College & Crown in the city of New Haven. College & Crown is a modern luxury rental in a vibrant community, boasting galleries, shopping, dining and recreational activities, within walking distance to Yale’s main campus and the Yale School of Medicine. New apartments will modernize apartment stock and mark an ongoing effort among developers to tap into unfulfilled demand for newer, amenity-laden rentals. In the first quarter of 2015, recently completed apartments in Fairfield and New Haven counties have been well absorbed. An increase of rental housing inventory may also play a meaningful role in continued growth of the local economy by making it easier for local employers to recruit workers to the …
The retail market in Southern Maine remains strong through mid-year 2015. Retail vacancy rates are low, investment sales are up, new retail projects are actively under construction, and plans for new retail developments are on the horizon. Positive trends in Maine’s retail sector have been evident for several years now, indicating that the market has stabilized and there is strong potential for further commercial growth over the next several years. According to Malone Commercial Brokers’ 2014 State of the Market Retail Survey, the Greater Portland retail vacancy rate for 2014 was 3.68 percent, compared to 10.8 percent in 2009. The vacancy rate has consistently dropped every year since 2009, with 2014 marking the lowest vacancy rate in Greater Portland in six years. Initially, annual retail vacancy rate declines in Southern Maine were related to the absorption of empty big boxes and retail centers located in the Maine Mall District in South Portland, as well as the newly created retail hubs built along the Maine Turnpike corridor during the construction boom in the early 2000s. By 2012, one of these new retail hubs located in the City of Biddeford saw Lowe’s, Linen ’N Things, Old Navy, and Best Buy close their …
Large blocks of space in the Connecticut office market have typically been associated with financial services firms and the wide open trading floors found in investment bank offices. However, for a new breed of tenant looking for sprawling, open and contiguous office space, the state of Connecticut currently offers a myriad of choices across multiple submarkets — from Trumbull to Norwalk to Stamford. And recent leasing figures suggest that prospective tenants are taking note. TAMI — or technology, advertising, media and information — tenants are no longer a Manhattan-only phenomenon. CBRE’s Westchester/Fairfield Counties office is increasingly seeing these tenants joining financial services tenants in cherry picking from an abundant group of large spaces. These TAMI tenants often favor the open spaces and giant floorplates that have become known for increasing collaboration and productivity among their employees. They can also offer consolidation and cost savings for companies. One of the most notable recent examples was 2014’s largest lease transaction for Fairfield County, which saw information technology firm Datto lease 100,398 square feet of space at Norwalk’s Merritt 7 Corporate Park. CBRE’s Paul Jacobs, Colin Reilly and Barbara Segalini represented Datto in the lease at the 22-acre campus, which Datto said it …
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 …
In Providence, the Class A office market continues to maintain vacancy rates under 10 percent, with an overall office vacancy of about 14 percent. This trend should continue as there is not any new Class A office development on the horizon for the capital city. There have been a few larger market transactions in Providence over the past 12 months. Waldorf Capital Management, a local real estate investment firm, purchased the Turks Head Building (150,000 rentable square feet) in late 2014. In addition, 170 Westminster Street (65,000 rentable square feet) recently traded; according to local rumor, the property will be converted to residential apartments. If 170 Westminster comes out of circulation, this will have a positive impact on the Class B vacancy rate in the city. Just south of the city on the 195 redevelopment land — dubbed “The Link” by the 195 Commission — work is just about complete to make the 19 available acres “shovel ready.” The 195 Commission has been successful in fully negotiating two purchase and sale agreements. The first is for student housing and the second is mixed-use residential. However, both projects are contingent on an acceptable tax stabilization agreement from the city, which has …
Rhode Island’s retail market continues to improve, although not to the point that new ground-up major projects are feasible. There is considerable activity with retailers expanding and absorbing the existing supply of retail space. In the past few years, a lot of the activity has focused on absorbing the mid-size boxes that went dark after the start of the recession, due to the closings of stores such as Circuit City, Linens ’N Things, and Borders. The leasing activity over the last several years seems to be the final stages of the absorption of these vacant boxes. As the supply of these existing anchor spaces continues to be reduced, the health of the retail market continues to improve with the result being a slight upward pressure on rents. The 500,000-square-foot Garden City Center in Cranston, which first opened in 1948, continues to upgrade its tenants, with The Wilder Company’s ongoing multi-year expansion and renovation of Rhode Island’s premier open-air mixed-use shopping center. New tenants opening over the last year include The Container Store, which has taken 25,000 square feet, as well as French natural skin care retailer L’Occitane and natural burger concept b. good. Additional new leases have been signed with …