GVA brokers have faith in MetroPark's future.

MetroPark is recognized by the majority of real estate professionals as the premier self-sustaining market throughout all of New Jersey and, due to its unique blend of amenities, it continues to maintain its reputation.

This perspective defines MetroPark not just as the immediate area of Wood Avenue and Thornall Street, but includes Iselin, Woodbridge and Northern Edison as well. Brokers and users expand their territorial search to incorporate these towns as part of the MetroPark submarket.

This market boasts over five million s/f of class A and B office space, direct access to five major corridors and NJ Transit bus and rail service, providing 30-minute commutes to and from New York City and Philadelphia.

Additional amenities include two nearby shopping malls, a strong labor pool, several million s/f of industrial space at Raritan Center just a few miles south and full-service hotels. This unique blend of amenities acts as the catalyst for attracting the who's who list of the Fortune 500.

Unbelievably, despite all that MetroPark has to offer, the overall vacancy has steadily climbed over the last 10 quarters to its current rate of 19.6%, breaching the overall northern and central New Jersey vacancy of 18.4%. We must reference back to the third quarter of 1996 to see comparable vacancy levels.

It wasn't until almost a year and a half later, during the summer of 1998, that MetroPark made a comeback with a remarkable 17 consecutive quarters of single digit vacancy levels of direct space (13 straight quarters for direct and sublease), which came to an end in the second quarter of 2002.

Experts continue to question: "So what has caused the increase in vacancies in such a historically sound market?" Well, there have been varying opinions as to why, but we believe that a macro view comes into play more than just a few factors.

Companies have certainly been in more of a "wait and see" mode over the last couple of years, with perhaps more reason for corporate caution than in prior economic cycles. In a market like MetroPark, where rents should exceed $30 per s/f and with management being held more accountable, there has been a trend towards more of the small and mid-cap firms and back office space requirements to pursue less expensive alternatives.

Another difference is that, unlike a decade ago, real estate transactions have taken more time to put together with top brass taking a more prominent role in the decision making process.

GVA Williams New Jersey has a highly optimistic long-term outlook for MetroPark.

This sub-market should be able to capitalize on its diverse industry representation, including law firms, computer services, insurance, telecommunications, accounting and a rapidly growing financial services sector. In addition, there is much pent up demand for growth, continued consolidations and decentralization.

Noteworthy deals in 2004 for MetroPark included sublease absorption at 194 Wood Ave. with 135,000 s/f taken by J.P. Morgan Chase Mortgage Company (relocation from within MetroPark), 25,000 s/f by Microsoft and 21,000 s/f by IBM. Other deals of note included First Investors, who leased 75,000 s/f at Raritan Plaza and leases by UBS and Meta Data at Alfieri Towers.

As the leasing agent for one of the most prestigious and unique office parks, the 625,000 s/f Woodbridge Corporate Plaza, GVA Williams sees signs of recovery coming with the additional leasing velocity and a commitment from corporate America to allocate funds towards employment growth.

DREW PERSSON AND BRIAN COHEN 

GVA WILLIAMS