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EDITOR’S NOTE
BOLSTERING THE RANKS
Asked about a potential slowdown in the warehouse market, Prologis’ Jesse Harty answered generally,
but also somewhat matter-of-factly: Tenants are “still proactively leasing space, because it is a tight market with less than 2 percent vacancy in New Jersey.”
In other words, the world’s largest industrial real estate owner has plenty of reason to stay bullish on
the region, where it’s eyeing continued expansion. It will do so with a workforce that has grown to some 65 employees in
New Jersey and New York, nearly double its headcount from just three years ago, and from a series of newly redesigned and expanded offices throughout the market that are meant to help it retain and attract talent in the market.
As you’ll read in this month’s cover story, that team is supporting
a portfolio that now spans 44 million square feet across 200 properties in New Jersey and
New York. Growing that footprint will come in a number of ways, Harty said, including the types
of creative, value-add projects
that involve redeveloping former office campuses. That, in turn, requires additional development and construction personnel like
the kind that Prologis has added
in recent months. And it comes as the company also hires for what’s known as its Essentials platform, which provides services to tenants such as helping them source materials for their building fit-outs, in a bid to engage them “beyond the four walls and the real estate.”
Our latest issue also features an update on The S. Hekemian Group’s North Market project in Montvale, at the former site of the Mercedes- Benz USA headquarters campus. Seven years after the automaker vacated the property — threatening to leave the borough with a gaping
physical and economic hole —
the developer and local officials are hailing the site’s rebirth. That includes a nearly fully leased, boutique office building with ground-floor retail space and a newly opened, high-end residential building, the first of two that
will have a combined 308 units. Stakeholders gathered in mid-July to mark the building’s opening and what’s still to come, including a new Valley Health System surgical center.
Elsewhere in this edition, we
bring you an interview with Cushman & Wakefield’s Peter Bronsnick. It’s been a year
since the well-connected, well- respected industry executive took the helm as the firm’s managing principal in New Jersey, with
plans to add top industry talent
and revamp how it unlocks new business opportunities. Both initiatives are well underway, as are several others, starting with C&W’s several high-profile hires over the past year. Our discussion with Bronsnick covers it all, part
of what he describes as a new approach to the managing principal role.
You can find those stories and more in Real Estate NJ’s summer issue, which comes at an interesting
time for the state’s commercial
real estate market. Economic unease, recession risks and other concerns are now the subject of daily discussions, setting the stage for what figures to be an adjustment period by owners, investors and developers. We’ll see how it all unfolds in the months to come. In the meantime, thanks for reading and enjoy the issue!
Joshua Burd
Editor
josh@re-nj.com
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