Two Executive Campus in Cherry Hill — Courtesy: NAI Mertz
By Joshua Burd
Office leasing in three southern New Jersey counties saw a slight uptick in late 2016, according to a new report, pushing vacancy in the region to just under 11 percent to end the year.
The report, by Wolf Commercial Real Estate, tracked about 389,000 square feet in leasing activity in Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties during the fourth quarter. That represented an increase of 6.5 percent from Q3’s overall leasing activity and contributed to about 127,000 square feet of positive absorption.
The research by the Marlton-based brokerage firm also found that prospecting activity was unchanged from the previous quarter, with about 250,000 square feet of lease deals in the pipeline and expected to close in the near term.
The largest completed leasing deal of the quarter was Lockheed Martin’s 126,000-square-foot renewal at 3 Executive Campus in Cherry Hill, according to the WCRE report. Other top deals identified by the report include:
- Abundant School’s new lease for 19,487 square feet at 2 Green Tree Centre in Marlton
- The state of New Jersey’s renewal for 18,764 square feet at 2 Echelon Drive in Voorhees
- Harbor Linen’s new lease for 18,000 square feet at 4 Foster Ave. in Gibbsboro
- Lockheed Martin’s renewal for 16,352 square feet at 6000 Midlantic Drive in Mount Laurel
- Newspaper Media Group’s new lease for 15,127 square feet at 2 Executive Campus in Cherry Hill
RELATED: Media group inks lease at Cherry Hill office building
The activity came during a quarter that saw more expansion by small and midsized business, WCRE said, but political uncertainty has kept larger players in a holding pattern.
“We see the potential for tremendous performance by the market, and good economic news has been easy to find this quarter,” Jason Wolf, founder and managing principal of WCRE, said in a prepared statement. “But still, we didn’t see many bold, decisive transactions as 2016 gave way to 2017.”
Wolf’s report surveyed 17.5 million square feet of office space in the three counties. Within that region, the so-called 3M corridor of Marlton, Mount Laurel and Moorestown in Burlington County has been the most active, but the firm said that a lack of large, quality options is now pushing more tenants to explore Cherry Hill and western Camden County.
The report also noted that the investment and user sales market activity is starting to pick up, with new buyers entering the market and looking to take advantage of low interest rates. Meantime, Mack-Cali Realty Corp. placed a 26-building, 1.26 million-square-foot South Jersey portfolio on the market, as the real estate giant continues to trim its vast office holdings.
During Q4, the volume of completed sales rose to 583,492 square feet, accounting for more than $64.8 million in transaction value, WCRE found. That was up from 416,050 square feet and more than $52 million in Q3.
