Jones Lang LaSalle
Closures Fuel Vacancy Rate Increase
By Eric Peterson
Last updated: March 14, 2006 10:20am
(For more retail coverage, click GlobeSt.com/RETAIL.)
OLD BRIDGE, NJ-With the recent demise of the Treasure Island craft shop chain putting more than 145,000 sf on the market the Northern New Jersey retail vacancy rate along major highway corridors increased slightly to 3% from year-end 2004’s 2.8%. Still, this retail market remains one of the tightest in the country, according to a new report.
“The vacancy factor moved up a bit in the wake of Treasure Island’s decision to totally close, and targeted closings by Levitz Home Furnishings and several other chains,” says Richard J. Brunelli, president of RJ Brunelli & Co., the retail real estate services firm based here. His company’s latest study found just under 800,000 sf of vacancies within the 26.5 million sf of shopping center and freestanding space it tracks along a half-dozen highway corridors in Bergen, Essex, Morris, Passaic, Somerset and Union counties. The latest study found availabilities in 95 of the 791 properties studied.
“But with new development opportunities along the six corridors few and far between, availabilities that arise in existing properties are typically gobbled up right away,” Brunelli says. “For the most part, large blocks of space that linger on the market are in properties with visibility or access issues.
The Levitz closings followed the furniture retailer’s acquisition of the rival Seaman’s chain and several locations occupied by the defunct Huffman Koos, and its subsequent Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in October. Levitz is currently reorganizing under new ownership. And the market is getting another jolt with the closure of four OfficeMax locations totaling 93,000 sf as part of a larger shut-down of 110 stores nationwide. “But given the level of demand for retail space in the region, we anticipate that virtually all of these big-box stores already on the market or in the process of being closed will be absorbed over the course of 2006,” Brunelli says.
Closures Fuel Vacancy Rate Increase
By Eric Peterson
Last updated: March 14, 2006 10:20am
(For more retail coverage, click GlobeSt.com/RETAIL.)
OLD BRIDGE, NJ-With the recent demise of the Treasure Island craft shop chain putting more than 145,000 sf on the market the Northern New Jersey retail vacancy rate along major highway corridors increased slightly to 3% from year-end 2004’s 2.8%. Still, this retail market remains one of the tightest in the country, according to a new report.
“The vacancy factor moved up a bit in the wake of Treasure Island’s decision to totally close, and targeted closings by Levitz Home Furnishings and several other chains,” says Richard J. Brunelli, president of RJ Brunelli & Co., the retail real estate services firm based here. His company’s latest study found just under 800,000 sf of vacancies within the 26.5 million sf of shopping center and freestanding space it tracks along a half-dozen highway corridors in Bergen, Essex, Morris, Passaic, Somerset and Union counties. The latest study found availabilities in 95 of the 791 properties studied.
“But with new development opportunities along the six corridors few and far between, availabilities that arise in existing properties are typically gobbled up right away,” Brunelli says. “For the most part, large blocks of space that linger on the market are in properties with visibility or access issues.
The Levitz closings followed the furniture retailer’s acquisition of the rival Seaman’s chain and several locations occupied by the defunct Huffman Koos, and its subsequent Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in October. Levitz is currently reorganizing under new ownership. And the market is getting another jolt with the closure of four OfficeMax locations totaling 93,000 sf as part of a larger shut-down of 110 stores nationwide. “But given the level of demand for retail space in the region, we anticipate that virtually all of these big-box stores already on the market or in the process of being closed will be absorbed over the course of 2006,” Brunelli says.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 11:17 AM
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