WHITE PLAINS, NY—Faced with an aging building stock and no promise of new development, Westchester CRE professionals will call on developers and others in the industry at RealShare Westchester on April 24 to court new population segments for both commercial and residential buildings and to consider adaptive re-use possibilities.

On the commercial side, attention must be paid both to sectors already looking to come into the market as well as those that appear poised for growth, according to the speakers at the upcoming conference.

“The future lies in the health technology sector because these firms are developing software and applications to move the medical industry forward and they have office space requirements,” says Marissa Brett, executive director of economic development, the Westchester County Association.

Local CRE participants need to discuss this growing sector in order to determine how to grow it, she adds. “It's about one-third of the county's inventory, so it's here, but no one is talking about it.”

“We need to start marketing to that sector; we haven't been doing so because of limited resources,” declares Brett. “We also need to make sure there's investment in our communities so that the building inventory is attractive and we create the zoning needed to make sure these types of tenants can come in.”

Numerous demographic trends have prompted a migration of the medical field to Westchester, adds Howard Greenberg, president, Howard Properties.

“In the past, medical and office never played well together,” he says. “Doctors aren't credit tenants, doctors don't have hard assets, patients are coming in all day, etc. But then the office market got soft so anyone who could pay rent was attractive. At the same time, we saw the advent of medical groups run by business people. Now these groups of doctors are much bigger and may be looking for 50,000 square feet of space.”

Medical tenants have replaced Westchester's large office tenants, says Greenberg. “If you take IBM in it's heyday [which was headquartered in Westchester's Purchase area], medical is now an industry that needs these same spaces in large chunks. Plus we're getting bio tech firms and startups so it's a broader group of companies using the space.”

Medical tenants are good for the community on the whole, Greenberg contends. “There's real jobs in the medical field, like nurses, administrative staff, etc. The sector creates a lot of hiring.”

But when all of those workers come in, developers need to bring attractive housing options to the table, notes Brett and Kevin McCarthy, VP, CBRE. In particular, the community needs to address the needs of the millennial generation, which previously was not an issue in Westchester.

“Now that the office demand has changed, developers cant just plop a multifamily building into the area and think it'll lease up,” notes Brett. “Builders need to create projects close to transportation that have laboratory space, retail, pathways and trails, access to fitness centers and more.”

Adds McCarthy, “The younger demographic wants to live with activities around them. There needs to be a commitment to retail and to the repurposing of vacant office buildings or other space to include more social or active offerings.”

The impediment is the approval process, he says, “We're in the land of 'not-in-my-backyard.' When people hear 'affordable housing' they think that means Section 8 units, but we mean young professional housing. If we can start educating officials in municipalities and even developers that there is an appetite for young professional housing, it would be a huge hurdle to overcome the stigma that Westchester does not cater to the next generation.”