By David Simon, SIOR, COO, NAI DiLeo-Bram Having recently surpassed the one-year mark since COVID-19 reached the United States, we can now better assess the pandemic’s impact on our local office market. Reviewing a year of data and market activity helps paint a more detailed picture of where things stand currently and may be headed. The overall direct vacancy rate for the combined counties of Essex, Middlesex, Morris, Somerset and Union New Jersey has risen 120 basis points since the start of the pandemic to 12.7 percent. Much of the space becoming vacant or available is higher-quality product; in fact the Class A direct vacancy rate has risen 180 basis points during the pandemic and is currently 17 percent. As a result, tenants looking in this segment of the market have a broad selection of high-quality office product. Sublet space has followed a similar trend to that of direct space, marking a 70 basis point increase since the start of the pandemic. More than 1.1 million square feet of Class A sublease product has become available during this period. Notwithstanding the statistics above, our firm recently completed over 28,000 square feet of office leases in Middlesex County, at 100 Metroplex …
