Avison Young in New Jersey

Since October of 2012, Avison Young's New Jersey team has grown to more than 110 professionals, providing an extensive best-in-class service platform ensuring successful results for every assignment. The Morristown, NJ-based office is staffed with experienced professionals providing superior corporate real estate service in the disciplines of brokerage, property management, project-management, construction management, capital markets, development consulting, marketing, market research, valuation advisory and debt/equity to a client base of corporate and institutional owners and occupiers. In September of 2017, Avison Young expanded its presence in New Jersey, opening a second office in Metropark.

Services

Area Overview

New Jersey is the nation's most densely populated State, home to nearly 9 million people. There are 21 Fortune 500 companies headquartered in the State, with many international companies having a significant presence as well.

According to the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, New Jersey's principal employment base is comprised of the life sciences, transportation and logistics, healthcare, telecom and information technology industries. Northern New Jersey in particular, with one of the most diverse and highly educated workforces in the country, is a critical secondary market for New York City's financial services sector.

Markets

New Jersey has the fifth largest office market in the country with over 374 million square feet of space; and boasts the nation's third largest warehouse and distribution market with more than 763 million square feet of space. The Port of New York and New Jersey is the country's third largest port market, feeding an extensive highway, air and rail infrastructure.

The commercial real estate market in northern New Jersey consists of more than 1.6 billion square feet of office, industrial, flex and retail product. Geographically, the market encompasses Princeton to the southwest, Monmouth and Ocean counties along the New Jersey shoreline to the southeast, northbound up the Garden State Parkway, the New Jersey Turnpike and Interstate 287 through Bergen and Passaic Counties.

OFFICE

The northern New Jersey office market consists of over 374 million square feet of inventory including corporate owned assets. Avison Young tracks and calculates the competitive leased office market as 211 million of Class A and B inventory. Several suburban office parks are scattered throughout the region while skyscrapers are more prevalent in the State's most populated cities, Newark, Jersey City/Hoboken, and New Brunswick. The northern New Jersey office market has gone through a significant transformation as owners are continuing to upgrade and reposition many older suburban office buildings in response to the "live, work, play" needs of an evolving "millennial" workforce.

RETAIL

Due to a highly motivated, diverse population with a high per-capita income, consumer spending is high in New Jersey. As a result, the State is an essential market for major retailers. In total, more than 412 million square feet of retail real estate has been developed in New Jersey. However, the continued rise of e-commerce is causing a transformative change to the landscape of the New Jersey retail market. Many big-box retail stores, as well as national mall and strip center occupiers, are reducing their footprints and moving much of their business online. Owners are beginning to replace traditional retailers with urgent-care facilities, restaurants, educational facilities and convenience stores. This trend is expected to continue as e-commerce becomes more prevalent.

INDUSTRIAL

With unmatched access to air and sea ports, rail and a robust highway network, the Tri-State region is one of the most important industrial markets in the United States. Northern New Jersey is the largest industrial market in the region. As the third largest industrial market in the United States, it encompasses over 763 million square feet of inventory. The Port of New York and New Jersey is also the third largest port in the United States when measured by container traffic, offering unprecedented access to international markets and cargo. Additionally, New Jersey benefits from being centrally located between New York and Philadelphia, as well as being equally distant from Boston and Washington D.C. On a larger scale, it provides access to the most dense population in the country.

CAPITAL MARKETS

Over the last nine years many communities in New Jersey have benefited from significant investment from institutions and private capital alike. Since 2009, investors have clearly identified two favored asset classes for investment and development capital: multi-family residential and industrial/distribution warehouse. These asset classes are the preferred products for institutional and private capital alike, evidenced by prolonged capitalization rate compression, rental rate appreciation and tremendous occupier demand.

Job growth in the Tri-State area, specifically in New York City and its environs, have been the driving force in new multi-family residential development in the urban core and suburban transit oriented developments. Additionally, the advent of e-commerce and dynamic shifts in consumer consumption have driven the industrial warehouse markets to all-time highs in rental rates and all-time lows in vacancy rates.

Going forward increased scrutiny and regulatory pressure from the lending community, coupled with projected increases to the cost of funds may create headwinds for the capital markets in New Jersey.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Over the past few years companies have been dealing with the challenges of creating work spaces that respond to the needs of multiple generations. These challenges have been met by creating flexible work space that can adapt as the needs of the companies and their employees change. The Baby Boomer generation continues to leave the workforce later in life, Gen Xer's are knocking on C-Suite doors, Millennials are ascending into middle management, and Generation Z workers are now entering the workforce. Companies will need to maintain flexibility in their work spaces to deal with the differing needs of these 4 generations of workers, as they battle to attract and retain the talent they need for the foreseeable future.

DATA CENTERS

In IT, the growing trend of enterprises outsourcing their data centers is continuing. Currently, less than a third of all enterprises, outsource their data centers but this is a trend that will accelerate in the coming years. Over 50% of enterprises are evaluating outsourcing corporate assets that don't contribute to the bottom line. Enterprises are considering co-location, managed hosting and cloud services as alternatives to hosting applications in-house. This is an $85 billion industry and growing.

The growing needs of today's organizations do not always justify the need for a dedicated Data Center. Organizations are increasingly focusing on their core businesses and exiting the technology business through outsourcing. By doing so they are able to gain access to upgraded networks, eliminate overhead, increase efficiency in IT operations and lower costs.