That, at any rate, is the state of the sector as seen by the local office of Trammell Crow Co., and senior VP George P. Molloy thinks that the market is "well-positioned to withstand even a slight drop-off in velocity." Industrial swings into the last stages of Q2 in relative balance, a condition that has existed for the past few years, says Molloy, who is also 2001 president of the New Jersey chapter of SIOR.

But he also tracks a recent, albeit slight, upward trend in availabilities. Throughout 2000, he reports, availabilities hovered around 5%, the Q1 trend was closer to 6.2%--thanks to the sputtering of the dot-coms specifically as well as to a slowdown in the overall manufacturing environment. For that reason, he characterizes the current leasing market as "good, but not great."

Rental rates for the Northern and Central regions are currently at $5.35 per foot. He concludes that, given the market conditions, these rates should increase but by less than 3%.