Estate Trends at ULI’s Annual Emerging Trends in Real Estate Program

Earlier this month, two of Cushman & Wakefield’s leading investment specialists moderated panels at ULI Northern New Jersey’s Annual Emerging Trends in Real Estate program. The event – which was open to ULI members and prospective members – addressed a variety of real estate-related topics, with overall positive sentiments on the success of 2016 and an optimistic outlook for 2017.

“Northern New Jersey continues to remain an incredibly dynamic market,” said Andrew Merin, Vice Chairman of Cushman & Wakefield. “We predict that 2016 will finish strong with close to $3.8 billion in office trades in the market – over $1 billion of this on the waterfront alone. It’s a robust market and will continue to be for the foreseeable future.”

Merin moderated a panel discussion on the findings from the 38th annual Emerging Trends in Real Estate® 2017 survey – conducted jointly by PwC and the Urban Land Institute – featuring Mitch Roschelle, the US National Practice Leader for PwC’s Real Estate Advisory Practice, and Mitch Rudin, Chief Executive Officer of Mack-Cali. Their discussion was mostly centered on the New Jersey Waterfront, particularly the Jersey City market. Often referred to as the ‘sixth’ borough, the panelists discussed the neighborhood’s position as one of the top 25 emerging markets in the U.S., with a current vacancy rate of 12.5% and a projected vacancy rate in the single digits in the near future.

“When comparing with other hot spots that PwC categorizes as 18-hour cities – Austin, Dallas, Atlanta, etc. – I’d say that Jersey Waterfront strongly fits this bill,” said Roschelle. “With its live, work, play environment and accessibility to Manhattan, millennials are flocking to neighborhoods like Jersey City and Hoboken.”

Merin also asked Rudin about Mack-Cali’s 2017 outlook for the New Jersey Waterfront: “Rents have increased by 25% – which is more than double what is happening in Manhattan and Brooklyn – and we expect this growth to continue,” answered Rudin.

Mack-Cali’s most recent multi-family project in Jersey City is attracting an older portion of millennials who are looking for a more sophisticated built environment, which can be found on the New Jersey Waterfront. While the demographic along the Jersey Waterfront used to primarily consist of financial services employees, it has been diversified in recent years with a large concentration of people in the TAMI (technology, advertising, media, and information) sectors making their way across the Hudson River.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Brian Whitmer moderated the Local Response Panel, which included Peter Cocoziello of Advance Realty, Pete Crovo of Prologis, Jose Cruz of HFF, Adam Fruitbine of Alliance Residential and Sam Morreale of Vision Real Estate Partners.

“Much of this conversation focused on the livelihood of the suburbs and the importance of a live/work/play environment within suburban office developments,” said Whitmer. “Office developers are not just leasing space anymore; they’re creating experiences.”

Trends and highlights of the discussion included:

In the office sector, high absorption rates are being seen in suburban New Jersey, with amenitized parks helping spur demand and creating unique opportunities for operators and their capital partners.

Similarly, highly amenitized residential projects in the suburbs are in great demand – amenities are no longer a perk, they’re an expectation, and apartments are becoming more like hotels.

The face of retail in the suburbs is changing with restaurants, gyms and medical replacing what used to be department stores.

Merin and Whitmer both are partners in Cushman & Wakefield’s Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group. Based in East Rutherford, N.J., the team specializes exclusively in investment sales of office, industrial, multifamily, retail and land properties throughout Northern New Jersey, New York and Fairfield County, Connecticut. The team has completed more than $17 billion worth of transactions since 2000, closing over $2 billion in sales to date in 2016.

About Cushman & Wakefield

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