Garden State industrial market strong.

INDUSTRIAL OVERVIEW

The Garden State's industrial market remained strong during the third quarter, according to Gil Medina, executive managing director for Cushman & Wakefield's New Jersey operations.

Medina noted, "Although leasing activity slowed from the pace set during the first half of the year, nearly 5.3 million square feet of transactions closed during the past three months, mirroring activity last year at this time."

Highlighted by three deals in excess of 200,000 s/f, Middlesex County once again led the Northern and Central New Jersey market in activity.

At the recently completed 1 Gourmet Lane in Edison, e-commerce firm, Newegg.com, leased the entire 374,148 s/f warehouse/distribution facility. G-III Apparel Group and Synnex Corporation also made large commitments of 300,000 s/f in South Brunswick and 228,500 s/f in Edison, respectively.

Investors continue to find warehouse distribution product desirable, and 5.7 million square feet changed ownership during the summer. This exceeds totals posted during the entire first half of the year. Mercer and Middlesex Counties were most attractive for buyers, accounting for 70 percent of the activity.

Among the highlights, First Industrial Realty Trust acquired Pearson Education's 886,826 s/f building at 258 Prospect Plains Road in Cranbury from Strategic Real Estate Advisors. Within I-195 Business Park in Hamilton Township, Matrix Development Group sold its 600,000 s/f asset to AEW Capital.

The largest transaction in Northern New Jersey occurred when RREEF acquired 111 and 112 Port Jersey Avenue in Jersey City, totaling 419,620 s/f.

"To satisfy the growing demand for modern facilities, developers completed seven more buildings totaling nearly two million square feet of space during the third quarter," Medina said.

"While the construction of new product remains primarily concentrated within Central New Jersey, savvy developers are finding value in repositioning older industrial sites into alternative uses statewide."

Nearly 90% of the newly delivered construction is located in Middlesex and Mercer Counties, where speculative warehouse/distribution facilities at 324 Half Acre Road (682,000 s/f) in Cranbury, 147 West Manor Lane (471,200 s/f) in Robbinsville and 255 Blair Road (341,500 s/f) in Avenel all sit fully vacant and await tenants.

On the redevelopment front, North Brunswick TOD Associates LLC took ownership of the former 212-acre Johnson & Johnson manufacturing plant in North Brunswick and plans to transform it into a mixed-use transit village. And, ongoing township meetings persist as to how Hartz Mountain will redevelop the former Ford Motor Co. plant in Edison.