"As the impact of the credit crisis continues to unfold, various predictions said this market would crumble," says David Houston Jr., the firm's president. "Closing deals in this climate will not be achieved without rising above significant challenges, but we believe there will be selective opportunities available to tenants, brokers and landlords in the first half of 2009."

And some are crediting an influx of data center deals for providing an element of stability in the market. Indeed, the tail-end of 2008 saw an upsurge in activity in that particular category."Data center development leads to hundreds of construction jobs and full-time employment for New Jersey residents," says Caren Franzini, CEO of the New Jersey EDA. Referring to three tenant signings that recently filled up at least one North Jersey building, "this is great news for New Jersey, particularly during these tough economic times," she says.

Those signings came at 100 Delawanna Ave. here, a 188,000-square-foot building owned by Mountain Development Corp., which also has its headquarters on-site. MDC acquired the former Givaudan Roure headquarters and Hoffman-La Roche office/lab building several years back and subsequently repositioned it as a multi-tenant home for data-related firms.