ShopRite is expanding and relocating within Watchung’s Blue Star Shopping Center on Route 22, prompting a $12 million update of the nearly 420,000-square-foot property. — Photo by Aaron Houston for Real Estate NJ
The resilience of the retail sector here in New Jersey is never lost on me as the months go by. That’s no surprise for one of the nation’s most affluent and densely populated states, and it shows in the steady stream of deals we see from owners and brokers who are helping tenants expand and find the next best location for their business.
Even so, those tenants often run into another reality in this market — New Jersey is largely built out, at least as far as the best locations are concerned, meaning redevelopment is often the only option. As you’ll read in this month’s cover story, that’s driving a series of new investments by shopping center owners that have secured new deals with supermarkets and other big-box tenants. Those landlords are now renovating their assets in conjunction with the new anchor leases, which figures to help attract new retailers to those properties.
“What we’re seeing now is really some strong activity in terms of tenants such as Target and others looking to take limited spaces that are available in shopping centers these days and rebuilding, reinventing the property around them,” said Matthew K. Harding, CEO of Levin Management Corp. The real estate services firm is now spearheading several such projects on behalf of landlord clients, including an overhaul of the historic Blue Star Shopping Center in Watchung that’s allowing a ShopRite to expand at the complex, as well as the renovation of a West Orange retail property to accommodate a new Target store.
Our June issue also highlights Scarinci Hollenbeck LLC, the Little Falls-based law firm, and its growing team of commercial real estate attorneys. The practice is well established but has made a host of key additions over the past year as it looks to not only become a one-stop shop for developers and landlords, but it has also focused on what it sees as important growth areas. That has meant adding experts in everything from affordable housing and real estate litigation to foreclosures and landlord-tenant disputes in the wake of the pandemic.
Elsewhere in this edition, we bring you our coverage of some of the many industry events that took place in May. One of the largest among them, the Jersey City Summit, included a panel discussion on the state of the Hudson waterfront office market. Speakers were rather bullish, understandably so after Bank of America’s recent blockbuster 548,000-square-foot lease in the acclaimed Newport district. But the panelists also noted that Jersey City’s booming residential pipeline will support a new paradigm of companies meeting their employees where they live.
You can find those stories and more in our latest issue. I’m writing this as we wind down what’s been a packed season of conferences, celebrations and other gatherings across the state, which is always one of the busiest but best times of the year in this industry. Hopefully it was as productive for you as it was for us here at Real Estate NJ, and you can find more of our coverage in these pages and online at RE-NJ.com.
Until next time, thanks for reading. Enjoy the issue!
Joshua Burd
Editor
