Teaneck, NJ — The Industrial and Office Real Estate Brokers Association (IOREBA) of
New Jersey hosted its annual Developer’s Night event at the Marriott at Glenpointe Hotel in Teaneck on Monday, March 27, 2023.
A panel of veteran real estate experts offered their views on the state of New Jersey’s office, industrial and multi-family housing marketplaces and educated the audience on growing trends and predications for the coming year. The panel offered both optimism and confidence but also frustration about economic headwinds. Over 300 guests from the commercial real estate industry were on hand for the event which included panelists Bill Waxman, a broker and vice chairman with Cushman & Wakefield; Jesse Harty, SVP Market Officer NJ/NY, Prologis; Gretchen Wilcox, founder and president of G.S. Wilcox & Co; Jeremy Neuer, senior managing director with JLL’s Capital Markets team; Rick Vanderbeck, VP sales/leasing, Hartz Mountain Industries; and Peter Bronsnick, executive managing director and NJ managing principal with Cushman & Wakefield. Goeffrey Schubert, a partner with Lee & Associates, served as moderator.
“We were fortunate to have this panel whose expertise and experience spans many decades in the industry” said IOREBA president Jeffrey Greif.
It was echoed by all speakers that there still remains growth in all areas with industrial and multi-family products still showing dominance however caution abounds. “I can’t predict the future. I can tell you that we are busy, but I like to compare it to eating soup with a fork” Bill Waxman said. “Nobody wants to be the last tenant to pay $25 bucks a foot, so things are taking a lot longer to get done. Tenants have choices. Negotiation is back.”
“Certainly, there’s a lot of turmoil out there, especially with the recent bank failures” commented Gretchen Wilcox, Developer’s Night first woman speaker. “I think that those are somewhat isolated - there may be a few more, but I really don’t see an avalanche kind of effect.” On the bright side she noted “We’re seeing an influx from insurance companies who are coming out with new programs to finance either straight construction loans for fixed-rate construction-to-perm loans.”
Jeremy Neuer thinks “the second half of the year is going to be more transactional than the first half of the year” and added “we’ll see what the Fed does on May 3rd. If we get some stability, the lenders will come back.” He agreed with Gretchen Wilcox that the life science companies are very active right now.”
“I think we’re all trying to figure out how the environment is going to change even further, but we’re very positive. I would say that second-generation space, existing product is actually seeing higher rent increases than first-generation, new construction product” commented Jesse Harty of Prologis. Rick Vanderbeck agreed. “So, despite the different paths we’re all going down, we remain optimistic and we still think rates will hold although at some point there has to be some kind of correction” he added.
Another key topic the panel discussed was the work-from-home dynamic and speaker Peter Bronsnick said “I actually think that the work-from-home dynamic is beyond a real estate issue - I think it’s a social issue that impacts everything from large institutions to local retailers and small businesses and we can’t ignore it’s impact on the GDP.”
New Jersey continues to undergo a repositioning of its many corporate campuses that are becoming functionally obsolete. In the face of economic headwinds all sectors are adjusting and there’s a reset or normalization returning to the market.