Fast decisions are vital in growing NJ market.

The speed-to-market trend for relocating and leasing space has become vital for avoiding production downtime and saving money in New Jersey's growing office market.

Because start-ups and mid-sized companies are rapidly expanding in New Jersey, and many New York firms are moving to the Garden State due to Manhattan's high rents, there is a constant demand for relocating to larger space. Traditionally, many companies' moving decisions often had been made too late, forcing them to scramble and lose production time. As a result, a number of companies have invested in corporate real estate service firms for project management to help expedite the process of relocating, and making it cost effective.

Real estate services firms such as my company, Equis, cover all aspects of relocating, including finding the best space at the right price, overseeing space construction, telephony, computerization and the physical move.

For example, Equis recently handled project management for Aptegrity, a systems management company, during its recent relocation. Equis moved Aptegrity from 10,000 square feet of office space in Wayne, New Jersey to 22,000 square feet of office space with a data center in Fairfield, New Jersey. Equis provided Aptegrity with an entire facility including space planing and furniture fit-out.

With the market constantly changing, time is money. Landlords in many cases have the ability to rent immediately because of strong demand and are not going to take a space off the market just because a potential tenant has expressed interest. A company that decides not to invest in project management will lose crucial speed-to-market time because it would be responsible for the difficulties of finding space, negotiating the lease and implementing the fit-out. Even if companies easily can find space on their own, it generally will cost them thousands of dollars while their new space sits fallow during the remainder of the relocation process.

Lack of speed-to-market also costs a relocating company additional money to hold onto their existing space, while tedious preparations are made for moving.

When a company is expanding and particularly needs to focus on their core business, they don't have much time for making decisions on space plans, architecture, furniture, construction vendors and moving. Because corporate services specialists work constantly with various local Vendors, they can present their client with many choices, enabling fast and solid decisions.

Space, And Everything In It

A current and popular project management trend is for corporate real estate service firms to pass savings on to their clients through leasing space and everything in it for three to five years. For a start-up or growing company that prefers not to put cash out upfront, leasing is a popular alternative. Most office systems and other items can be leased, including entire data and telephone systems, copiers, furniture and cubicles.

In addition to not having to fund the space with money upfront, leasing provides a tax write-off. Aptegrity, whose relocation move I referred to earlier, chose to lease open furniture, rather than construct dry wall, to serve as cubicle workstations. In addition to providing space plan mobility, the open furniture will pay for itself in five years after gaining a tax write-off. This material can also be taken with the tenant at the end of the space lease, which cannot be done with standard drywall.

As in this instance, more and more expanding and start-up firms in New Jersey as well as those relocating to the state from New York are finding it makes good business sense to put their relocation needs in the hands of corporate real estate service firms specializing in project management. Doing so, results in greater efficiency in relocating and production in the new space.