HILLSBOROUGH, NJ-With more than 425,000 square feet of space leased or renewed throughout its commercial real esate portfolio last year, and healthy business so far in 2012, Larken Associates notes that the economic recovery is progressing well.
Even more significant is that more than 89,000 square feet of the 2011 activity came from retailers, says Robert Marek, executive vice president at the firm.
“We’ve been paying particular attention to the retail market, making some acquisitions on the value-add side,” Marek says.
Among the new leases last year were: Verizon in Echo Shopping Center in Springfield, Pizza Hut in the Shoppes at Woods Tavern in Hillsborough, and Subway in the Maidencreek Shopping Center in Blandon, PA. Local shops including Eden Organic Market, and Bloom Nails and Spa, both in the Echo Shopping Center in Springfield, as well as Lenny’s Pizza & Pasta in the Kingsbridge Center in Hillsborough also signed deals.
“I don’t have any retail in New Jersey that’s challenged,” he notes.
However, Larken has an unusually balanced commercial portfolio, divided fairly evenly among office (700,000 square feet), industrial (700,000 square feet) and retail (600,000 square feet).
“The warehouse and the retail have shown significant improvement,” Marek reports. On the office side, “We have a strong core medical base. Even through the Great Recession, my occupancy level was in the high 90s. That hasn’t changed.”
At the Hillsborough (NJ) Business Center, Hu-Lift Equipment expanded to nearly 8,000 square feet, and Primus Green Energy increased its space to 34,000 square feet. On the office side, Saint Clare’s Hospital renewed 17,000 square feet at Parsippany (NJ) Commons and THS Co. signed a new lease for nearly 6,500 square feet at Raritan Commons in Flemington. And the pace continues.
“I have been so ridiculously busy in the last five weeks,” Marek says. “Last week I signed a lease a day."
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
