Blue Chip Retailers Fuel NJ Industrial Market Growth

On Oct 31, 2019

Quality industrial space is becoming increasingly scarce throughout New Jersey and the new development pipeline is filling up quickly, according to the Third Quarter 2019 Industrial Market Report from Transwestern Commercial Services (TCS). Average asking rents rose to $8.59 per square foot, marking the largest quarterly increase since the fourth quarter of 2018.

The third quarter saw a 6.8% increase in rents year over year, with the greatest increases in the Hudson Waterfront, Route 280/Suburban Essex, and Route 46/23/3 submarkets. Overall market rents increased nearly 30% over the past three years, with all but four of the state’s 21 submarkets seeing an increase of at least 10%. Throughout the state, nearly one-third of submarkets averaged rents higher than $9 per square foot.

“We are continuing to see remarkable interest for high-quality industrial space, and skyrocketing rents in several of the state’s key submarkets are a result of the insatiable demand in the market,” said Jeffrey Furey, Managing Director at Transwestern. “We expect that future absorption numbers will remain strong, especially in Central New Jersey, when tenants that preleased space take occupancy in newly developed properties.”

Sustained occupancy increases in Central New Jersey were led by the Exit 11/Perth Amboy/GSP, Exit 8A, Route 287 West, and Somerset submarkets. In Northern New Jersey, velocity picked up farther west of the Turnpike in the Bergen Central and Morris East submarkets. Less than 3% of inventory at the Port of New York and New Jersey remains unoccupied, as cargo volumes continue to set records.

The top three leases in the third quarter totaled more than 3 million square feet. Home Depot committed to 1.3 million square feet in Perth Amboy at the former Gerdau Ameristeel manufacturing property. Amazon added nearly 900,000 square feet to its New Jersey presence at a new development in Somerset and a space formerly occupied by Coca-Cola in Moonachie, while Barnes & Noble Distribution renewed its 1.1 million-square-foot lease in Cranbury.

“Developers are continuing to scour the state for new sites, with less than 5 million square feet under construction – the lowest we’ve seen in more than three years,” said Matthew Dolly, Director of Research for Transwestern’s New Jersey office. “We should expect to see a strong holiday shopping season ahead, and as e-commerce takes an even bigger chunk out of total retail sales, this will only continue to fuel further growth in the warehouse sector for the next several quarters.”

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