Having started my commercial real estate career in Newark, New Jersey in the late 1980s, I’ve had a front row seat to the evolution of The Brick City, and specifically the strides taken by the community toward enhancing the soul of the downtown area. What was once a city centered largely around Newark Penn station, the region has experienced new growth, particularly northward and westward toward the Broad Street corridor. Additionally, while improvements over the past two decades were slow, but steady, the past five years have seen a more intense ramp up in activity.
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Post-Tax Reform Update: Real Estate Income Tax
The sweeping tax reform brought on by The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is now in effect, but many Real Estate owners and investors remain in the dark on how these changes will impact their businesses. With that, Sax’s Real Estate advisors will hold an educational webinar on March 19 to run through the major changes facing the Real Estate industry overall now that tax reform has been implemented, and proposed guidance has been released.
Office leasing velocity gains traction
More than 2.3 million square feet leased during Q3 compared to a lagging 1.4 million square feet in Q1 2018. A 33.0 percent increase in active tenant requirements from one year ago represents nearly 6.0 million square feet. Accelerated leasing velocity is expected to continue in Northern and Central New Jersey through year-end 2018 and into 2019.
Logistics users scramble for quality space
A drought in modern space options is rippling through the New Jersey Industrial market, creating challenges for logistics users while providing opportunities for developers. Class A availability has fallen to cycle lows of 5.5 percent, a far cry from last cycle’s peak when Class A availability reached 27.5 percent.
Langan knows OZs in NJ
Enacted as part of the 2017 federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the Opportunity Zones program will bring development into low-income areas. While investors and developers take steps to form Qualified Opportunity Funds (QOFs), Langan is well positioned to support substantial improvement projects among the 169 tracts within 73 towns in New Jersey. In fact, because of our near half-century of providing engineering and environmental services in our state, we have the right experience and site knowledge to help maximize investments in our OZs.
Big-box demand struggles with limited supply
The proliferation of e-commerce spiked leasing velocity in 2016 and 2017 due to significant demand for big-box and mega-box spaces.
Limited supply of big-box space across the state has stalled leasing velocity for YTD 2018.
There are only five (5) availabilities in excess of 500,000 square feet in the state.
Tenants have expanded the geographic scope of requirements into Southern New Jersey and Lehigh Valley to accommodate immediate needs.
