Page 21 - RENJ May 2021 Issue 53

worked remotely. Meisner was confident in that prospect, he said, citing the increase of vaccines and the growing comfort level among workers.
“A majority of our small to midsize tenants have already begun to implement return-to-work strategies and many of them have been in the office for the better part of a year,” Meisner said. “We are hearing from our larger corporate tenants that by the end of the summer, they will also have return-to-work programs in place.
“For a while, these plans will have some amount of flexibility as they may allow employees to split their time between coming into the office and also working from home or in remote locations a few days a week.”
He added that many Manhattan- centric companies would start with such a protocol, likely resulting in the need for smaller, redundant locations that allow their suburban workforce to work closer to home a few days
a week and commute into the city
as needed. The so-called hub-and-
spoke model will allow companies to maintain their corporate culture, collaboration and training, he said.
Research from Gensler may back that up. According to the design firm’s U.S. Workplace Survey from summer/ fall 2020, covering more than 2,300 U.S. employees, 52 percent of U.S. workers would prefer a hybrid work model.
The Birch Group’s recent additions in New Jersey include 100 Southgate Parkway in Morris Township, part of a three- building, 411,737-square-foot portfolio that the firm acquired in March.
Meisner said the
demand now is similar
to what his team saw after the 2008 financial crisis, and he thinks the recovery after the pandemic will be similar. They’re seeing a strong increase in showings, he said.
single-family homes through March 2021 in Bergen County were up 30 percent over March 2020. Homes stayed on the market for 51 days, down from 70 days in March 2020.
In Morris County, closed sales were up 18.4 percent over March 2020, staying on the market 46 days, down from 72 in March 2020. In Essex County, closed sales were up 14.2 percent over March 2020, and homes stayed on the market 41 days, down
from 65 in 2020.
Meisner sees that as good news for suburban office buildings.
“We’re still very bullish on the office sector,” he said, adding: “If the residential market is a predictor of the office market, which we believe it is, we expect to see a significant rebound in office leasing, particularly in the third and fourth quarters of 2021.” RE
“We’ll come out swinging strong,” he said.
As Meisner observed, northern New Jersey has seen a busier market for homebuyers. According to data from New Jersey Realtors, closed sales of
REALESTATENJTM 19
Courtesy: The Birch Group