CORFAC News

Normal market leasing velocity has not yet returned to the Westchester County, New York office market. The market still remains a “zero sum game” where tenants will relocate from one building to another, leasing virtually the same amount of square footage, with no net absorption. Other than a few select suburban buildings and the White Plains CBD, office space is now “commoditized,” with per-square-foot pricing remarkably similar across much of the county.The Interstate 287 East submarket – which is a partial beltway around New York City and serves the northern half of New Jersey and the counties of Rockland and Westchester in New York, will have 325,000 square feet of vacancy added to it when Starwood leaves its spaces at 1111 and 1133 Westchester Avenue in February of 2012 to relocate to Stamford, CT with another 100,000 square feet being vacated by Nokia on Corporate Park Drive. Even though these spaces are in very attractive and relatively modern buildings, they will take a significant amount of time to re-tenant in a market that sees very few deals over 50,000 square feet each year. However, these blocks of space provide opportunities for new, large tenants to relocate to headquarters-quality buildings in the heart of Westchester’s corporate corridor. The Manhattan leasing market is extremely tight, and midtown rents are climbing. It will be interesting to see if the combination of these factors will work in Westchester’s favor.Howard E. Greenberg, SIOR, is President of Howard Properties, Ltd./CORFAC INTERNATIONAL His firm, located in White Plains, New York specializes in tenant representation and real estate consulting.