Improvement in the city's employment picture is adding fuel to the fire of an already heated multifamily market. As we enter the summer, the vital signs of continued improvement in apartment operations — rising market rents and lower vacancy — are in place. Investors’ attraction to the relative stability of this market is growing. This is evident as overseas capital and a greater number of private investors join apartment REITs and private equity players, increasing the competition for market listings and compressing cap rates in their wake. On the employment side, the financial sector has yet to rebuild headcounts to the pre-recession level. The loss of this traditional payroll leader during economic expansion has been replaced with the technology and business services’ broad job growth throughout the metro. These sectors have emerged as the new employment leaders, and the expansions of Google, Microsoft, Facebook and others are having a positive impact not only for the apartment market but also for allied employment sectors generating additional renter demand. Additionally, New York City’s emergence as a venture capital powerhouse, closely trailing Silicon Valley and now ahead of Boston, supports additional demand throughout the market. With sound apartment operations in place, investor competition …
New York
As we come off the high of the holiday season and take a look at how New York retail fared throughout the year, we can expel a deep sigh of relief knowing that the Big Apple continued to recover faster than the national average and has a bright outlook for 2013. While New York City’s retail recovery has been slow and steady, the year closed on a positive note with total retail vacancy rates hovering around two percent. New York City continues to be a one of the most vibrant and growing retail markets in the world as the local economy has seen steady gains in private sector hiring that outweigh cuts in government employment. While Hurricane Sandy dented the recovery, the city rebounded almost immediately with Black Friday weekend sales exceeding expectations. New York’s resiliency and continued low unemployment bodes well for the Big Apple’s continued success. Big Apple Big Deals The New York retail market saw some notable large deals in 2012 including H&M’s new 57,000-square-foot lease and Cartier’s 50,000-square-foot renewal on Fifth Avenue. This coupled with the unprecedented 200,000 square feet available on Fifth Avenue solidifies the opportunity for a successful 2013. While the market has seen …
We We ended 2012 with a “wait-and-see” New York City office market, a predicament common to other cities and commercial real estate sectors across the U.S. With elections, the fiscal cliff and 2012 behind us, we expect 2013 to be a bit of a transition year with moderate growth, but it will still be interesting to observe and be a part of one of the world’s most dynamic markets as Midtown, Midtown South and Downtown evolve and historic developments such as the World Trade Center continue to take shape. In terms of tenant activity, Midtown South is still the biggest story. Midtown South vacancy closed the year at 7.9 percent, with average asking rents of $49.69 per square foot, while the submarket’s Class A space was 5.2 percent vacant with average asking rates of $62.57 per square foot. With Google and its $2 billion New York City headquarters at 111 Eighth Ave., Midtown South’s Silicon Alley has emerged as the East Coast hot spot for tech and social media tenants that are drawn to the city’s media and financial agglomerations and talent pool. Though Midtown and Midtown South offer a different vibe and, generally, different types of office inventory, owners …
A tight retail market, rising rents, and record low interest rates led to a jump in New York City multifamily investment sales in 2012. Multifamily building sales in New York City rose to $7.3 billion in 2012, a 45 percent increase compared to 2011, according to Ariel Property Advisors’ Multifamily 2012 Year in Review: New York City. There were 639 multifamily transactions comprised of 965 buildings in 2012, a year-over-year increase of 36 percent and 42 percent, respectively. The fourth quarter was particularly robust as investors rushed to close deals before tax increases took effect. In 2012, we also saw prices for multifamily buildings in prime New York City locations return to pre-financial crisis levels. In Manhattan, cap rates averaged below 4.75 percent and value-added assets traded at below 4 percent. Manhattan multifamily buildings operating at market rental rates even saw prices climb above $1,000 per square foot. One example of this was 105 West 29th Street, where a sale closed in June for $280 million, or $1,056 per square foot. This same institutional investor paid $475 million, or $498 per square foot, in January 2010 for a portfolio comprised of similar core assets at 415 East 53rd Street, 777 …
The retail market in Greater Rochester has been active for the first three quarters of 2012, and we anticipate steady demand into 2013. The most active retailers in the market have been national restaurant chains, dollar stores, retail bank branches, medical (urgent care) and gas stations. Overall market vacancy is currently 7.47 percent with the southeast market at 4.77 percent, and the northwest market at 5.06 percent, showing the tightest vacancy levels. The southeast market includes both the 1.3 million-square-foot Eastview Mall corridor in Victor and the Monroe Avenue corridor in Pittsford. The Monroe Avenue corridor is centered at Pittsford Plaza and Wegmans’ flagship grocery store. The southeast market boasts the highest household income demographics in the region, which has attracted retailers like Trader Joe’s, which is opening in Pittsford Plaza in October; The North Face, currently under construction across from Eastview Mall; and Von Maur, which is currently under construction and replacing The Bon Ton at Eastview Mall. Benderson Development is completing construction of the small shop space at Victor Crossing, a power center anchored by a Walmart Supercenter and Kohl’s on Route 96 just south of Eastview Mall. New tenants include HomeGoods, PetSmart, Dollar Tree, and Famous Footwear. …
The industrial market has remained very stable over the past four years in New York’s Capital District, and promises a strong pattern of growth for the next six to 12 months. As the office market struggles in the central business district, fueled by the state’s tenuous occupancy of numerous privately held properties, the industrial marketplace has flourished with extended commitments from existing users and the entrance of new users. With Upstate New York making a name for itself in the nanotech industry, a great deal of national attention has been drawn to the region, which had previously been characterized as not being nationally significant. In addition to the tech industry, national distribution groups have committed to and/or focused their site searches in the Capital District. One of the area’s most significant industrial deals this year involved a local manufacturer making a 15-year lease commitment to remain in the region, by tripling its footprint in a single-tenant building of 140,000 square feet. This commitment to the Albany marketplace was a further sign of the support from the state’s economic development officials, the abundant availability of the appropriate workforce, and the distribution characteristics of the region. At full capacity, this facility will …
Recovery was the name of the game in 2011 for many major retail corridors in Manhattan. SoHo and the Flatiron District were among the most significant rebounding areas. SoHo has benefited from international retailers’ expansion into New York and the city’s record-breaking tourism. New York City welcomed more than 50 million tourists in 2011, including 10.1 million international visitors — more than any other year in its history. The city generated $32 billion in visitor spending and $48 billion in economic impact, according to Mayor Michael Bloomberg and NYC & Company. And SoHo is a major stop on any tourist’s path. Broadway, Spring and Prince streets have long been the market’s primary retail corridors, and rents on these streets are nearly back to 2008 peaks, with very limited vacancy. In 2011, more tenants, especially European retailers, saw value and opportunity on the interior streets — Mercer, Greene and Wooster — which are one-third to half the rent of Broadway, Prince and Spring streets. The interior streets had suffered from higher-than-normal vacancy levels during the recession; now, they are flush with some of the biggest names in retail and are commanding higher rents than ever before. The Mercer Hotel and early …
The multifamily market in New York City picked up steam in 2011 and is continuing to thrive during the first quarter. Multifamily building sales citywide jumped 33 percent in 2011 compared to 2010 as institutional investors drove the year-over-year jump in dollar volume up by 43 percent. Our company’s research report, the Multifamily Year in Review: New York City 2011, shows that citywide there were 436 multifamily transactions in 2011 consisting of 589 buildings totaling $4.23 billion in gross consideration, compared to 2010, which had 392 multifamily transactions with 442 buildings totaling $2.949 billion in gross consideration. Manhattan south of 96th Street and Brooklyn posted the strongest gains in 2011 versus 2010. Each saw a 25 percent increase in multifamily transaction volume and around 50 percent increase in building sales. Year-over-year multifamily building sales in Northern Manhattan and the Bronx rose 25 percent and 23 percent, respectively, but declined 7 percent in Queens. The pricing environment has shifted dramatically in favor of sellers and prices are ticking up as a result of several fundamental value drivers. Rents have now recovered to pre-financial crisis levels and tenant concessions have all but disappeared. Interest rates for cash-flowing multifamily assets have hit all-time …
Driven by robust demand from tech and media companies, operations in Manhattan will recover at a moderate pace, though trouble looms in the financial industry. Turbulence in the global economy, a political gridlock in Washington, D.C., and new regulations will prompt hedge funds and investment banks to shed jobs. A few of these users will offer space for sublease to cut costs, which will encourage landlords in Midtown to offer lucrative concessions to compete for tenants. Midtown South will boast the tightest vacancy in Manhattan in 2012 as media and tech firms backfill space, while the redevelopment of Hudson Yards will ignite leasing activity in the area. Tenants priced out of Midtown will target downtown, where Condé Nast expanded its lease at One World Trade Center to 1.2 million square feet. In Brooklyn, the New York City Human Resources Administration will consolidate operations into 400,000 square feet near Atlantic Yards this year, which will further transform the area. New York City fundamentals remain among the best in the country. Citywide, payrolls will grow 1.5 percent this year, or 56,000 jobs, while office-using sectors will gain 15,000 positions. In all five boroughs, approximately 1 million square feet of office space will …
Upstate New York is currently in a renaissance period as the major initiative of the high technology industry creates momentum for local communities. Centered at the University at Albany, the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering has been a leader in developing more than $6 billion of infrastructure and research and development focused around the semi-conductor industry, and most recently the solar energy industry. The relocation of Sematech International’s world headquarters from Austin, Texas, to the edge of the University’s campus in Albany, New York, has established a partnership program focusing the world’s leading semi-conductor makers and related industries in a collaborative effort to develop and manufacture the next generation of chips that power our lives. The College’s most recent announcement of a partnership involving IBM, Intel, Samsung, Global Foundries and TSMC focused on a $4.8 billion deal that is largely funded privately, will result in substantial job growth in categories not previously significant in numbers. This most recent announcement in September 2011 also spreads the benefits throughout the state in Buffalo, Rochester, Utica, and into the Hudson Valley as new jobs are created in these communities that result from supporting and related industries. The office sector should begin to …