Since 2010, the Brooklyn real estate market has been surging. Over the course of the last four years, the total dollar amount of commercial real estate sales in Brooklyn has increased 397 percent with transaction volume up 151 percent. In 2010, $1 billion of commercial sales were completed, compared to more than $5 billion in 2013 — and projections for commercial sales in Brooklyn for 2014 are more than $6 billion. Retail property sales in the first half of 2014 compared to the first half of 2013 have increased 33 percent in dollar volume and have seen a 12 percent increase in transaction volume. Brooklyn has become a true retail destination, with more national retailers than ever opening up shop. Barney’s Co-op is credited as being one of the first upscale retailers in the borough four years ago. J. Crew, Sephora, Nord-strom Rack and Whole Foods are several of the other nationally known retailers to make the move to Brooklyn. Apple is looking to open its first Brooklyn store, and the potential location of the store continues to be a widely discussed topic. Brooklyn offers a dense concentration of consumers for retailers to serve. According to an economic development report …
Northeast Market Reports
Home to many of the fastest growing communities in Maine, the Sebago Lakes region is continuing its rebound from the Great Recession. Recent Census data puts Windham as the second-fastest growing Maine community, just behind our neighboring town of Gorham. All six of Windham’s bordering towns are in the top 30 fastest growing communities, including four in the top 10. Windham acts as the marketplace and service center for the region and serves a primary trade area population of 61,000 residents, and a secondary trade area of 80,000 people. The four-season nature of the region draws 500,000 visitors annually. Retail sales have rebounded from recession lows — and with 50 percent of the region’s sales, Windham leads the way. Construction of Single-Tenant Retail Remains Steady Tractor Supply (19,000 square feet), Goodwill (17,800 square feet) and Dollar Tree (10,000 square feet) have added to the 1.5 million square feet of retail space since 2012. AutoZone recently submitted plans for a 7,500-square-foot building to be constructed in the center of our retail district, and other retailers are showing interest in locations south of the retail center along U.S. Route 302. Vacancy Rates Remain Low Windham’s retail vacancy rate continues to remain low, …
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 …
Over the last few years, tight conditions in Pittsburgh’s multifamily market have allowed operators to aggressively push rents among all class levels. This year, a surge in multifamily completions will put elevated pressure on vacancies, but more jobs and new households will keep across the board operations in positive motion, supporting another year of rent growth. Developers are expected to build more than 1,600 multifamily units in 2014, the largest expansion of supply in over ten years. Most new multifamily projects in Pittsburgh are located north and south of the central business district where construction costs are lower. For example, in Cranberry Township in the north many units are strategically situated around the newly announced $72 million UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. In southern Pittsburgh, added drilling activity in the Marcellus Shale and energy-related company expansions encouraged demand for rentals, spurring construction of several multifamily and residential communities. A minor overstock of brand-new rentals and single-family homes will move vacancy up somewhat in select submarkets, slowing down the previous year’s persevering rent growth. An improving economy in Pittsburgh and further rent gains will sustain strong buyer demand throughout 2014. Employers will add 24,600 jobs in 2014 to expand employment in Pittsburgh …
In Pittsburgh’s industrial market, the fourth quarter of 2013 finished in much the same way it began and maintained throughout the year; solid if unspectacular growth. The vacancy rate fell from 7.9 percent in the third quarter to 7.7 percent in the fourth quarter and dropped three basis points in total over the course of the year. The lack of quality Class A warehouse space continues to be a factor with vacancy levels dropping to an astounding 2.97 percent. The greater Pittsburgh’s industrial market is approximately 172 million square feet spread out over the six-county region that includes Allegheny, Butler, Beaver, Westmoreland, Washington, and Armstrong counties. The Class A portion is approximately 17.5 million square feet. With a vacancy rate of 2.97 percent, we only have a total availability across our total market of 519,750 square feet of Class A product. This is below equilibrium for a healthy market. Furthermore, the definition of Class A product in the Pittsburgh region would not necessarily hold up in markets with more speculative developments such as Columbus or Lehigh Valley. Although Pittsburgh has hit the radar of the national real estate community for the opportunity on the investment side, we are still very …
Rhode Island’s economy continues to struggle with unemployment that is above the national average. As a result, it has been difficult to get new ground-up development projects started with only a few exceptions. In Johnston, Saletin Real Estate Group has completed construction on the first phase of Johnston Towne Center on Hartford Avenue. The 95,000-square-foot shopping center is anchored by a 40,000-square-foot Price-Rite grocery store. BankRI has also opened a new free-standing facility on the site. In order to make the development a reality, the mayor and town council worked with the developer and issued tax increment bond financing. The project is considered a major redevelopment victory for the town of Johnston, as the construction of Johnston Towne Center required the demolition of the former Stuart’s Plaza shopping center — which had been 100 percent vacant for many years, and had become an eyesore along Hartford Avenue, one of Johnston’s busiest streets. Johnston Towne Center serves as the second victory for the rejuvenation of Hartford Avenue. The former Shaw’s grocery store, which had been vacant for several years and shares the same traffic signal as Johnston Towne Center, is now fully leased to Ocean State Job Lot and Planet Fitness. …
In Providence, the Class A office market has stabilized, thanks to a number of large lease renewals last year as well as new activity in the market. The current vacancy rate for Class A office product is now under 9 percent in the Capital City with an overall office vacancy rate of 14 percent, which represents a decrease of 100 basis points compared to this same point last year. Consequently, this activity has pushed rental rates for Class A space back over $30 per square foot on new deals. Recently, Nortek completed a lease for 24,000 square feet at the Blue Cross Blue Shield building located in the Capital Center district of Providence. Tech startup Swipely has completed its move into more than 25,000 square feet at 10 Dorrance Street. But for the Swipely expansion, the downtown Providence Class B office market remains stagnant. There has been some activity on the capital markets front as well in Providence. The Foundry Associates recently completed its purchase of the former American Locomotive Works (ALCO) site, which totals more than 200,000 square feet of redeveloped office space, for $19.05 million. In addition, Providence-based Paolino Properties recently completed the acquisition of 100 Westminster (300,000 …
According to the Allegheny Conference on Economic Development, in 2013 there were more people working in Pittsburgh than ever before. The region has seen five consecutive years of continuous expansion and a current capital investment of $3.2 billion. Pittsburgh ranks among the top 15 metropolitan areas for five-year private sector job growth according to On Numbers Economic Index. Possibly more impressive than the jobs themselves, the earnings growth in the region over the same five-year period was 24.3 percent — the highest increase in the U.S. Pittsburgh’s unemployment rate fell to 6 percent in February, with the seven-county region posting an increase of 2,400 jobs in the same period. Among the companies expanding in Pittsburgh is Cigna Health. The company, which currently employs more than 1,400 in the region, plans to grow by 10 percent in 2014, adding approximately 150 new management, training and customer service positions to its regional post in Pittsburgh’s Parkway West submarket. This is great news for retailers in the area, which is also known as the Airport Corridor and which has been a mecca for retail for several decades. In recent years, retailers have struggled to survive here, as the submarket suffered from over-development and …
New Jersey’s industrial market took a positive turn in the past 18 months, and now the lack of new development during the downturn has market conditions comparable with any boom period. Occupiers are paying record rents as high as $8 per square foot for new, Class A product, while submarkets such as Port/Airport and Exits 10 and 12 report vacancy below 5 percent. Investor demand for industrial property with credit tenants and decent lease term remaining is literally insatiable. Central New Jersey closed 2013 with 1.2 million square feet of fourth quarter net absorption and a vacancy rate of 6.6 percent, which is a 170–basis-point decrease compared to the end of 2012. Northern New Jersey’s largest -submarket, Meadowlands, has 78.2 million square feet and the submarket posted 1.7 million square feet of net absorption to finish the year with 6.2 percent vacancy. To the south, where average asking rents are $4.87 NNN per square foot, several Central New Jersey submarkets are at sub-6-percent vacancy, including Exit 8A, the region’s largest industrial submarket, which ended 2013 at 5.1 percent vacancy. Mom & Pop, Meet Amazon New Jersey’s traditionally strong base of small- to medium-sized, mom-and-pop end users certainly plays a role …