Gale & Wentworth remains bullish on New Jersey

Real Estate Weekly, Feb 14, 2001 by Mark Yeager

The fundamentals of the New Jersey office market remain extremely strong. Gale & Wentworth is positioned to remain the stateis most active office development company with more than 3.5 million square feet of new development projects either currently under construction or in the pipeline. Our strategy of focusing on all three sectors of the office market, including build-to-suit, redevelopment and speculative development allows Gale & Wentworth to meet the needs of companies looking for immediate occupancy, value-built space and large blocks of custom-designed, Class A space.

Overall, demand in the office market is as robust as supply has been constrained over the past few years. In fact, in 2000, Gale & Wentworth recorded one of the strongest leasing years ever with nearly 3.2 million square feet of transactions recorded for such. companies as Global Crossing, Affinity Federal Credit Union, Pharmacia, Key Bank, Exodus Communications, Concert USA and Ernst & Young., In regards to acquisitions, Gale & Wentworth acquired approximately three million square feet of office projects and land sites that met our in vestment criteria. Gale & Wentworth remains cautiously optimistic that these trends will continue in 2001.

On the leasing side, the market is poised to continue it current growth cycle. Although demand has been substantial and vacancies in most markets are at historically low levels, supply is relatively limited. One of the most important characteristics of the New Jersey marketplace is its economic diversity. The industries that drive the current growth are pharmaceutical, health care, financial services, technology and communications.

Corporations today are more efficient than ever. Significant advances in technology, smarter management and a greater focus on the bottom line have resulted in most companies being extremely streamlined. Moreover, with unemployment still very low, whatever layoffs do occur in the marketplace will be mostly offset by companies hiring in need of qualified employees. Additionally, today a great many buildings are technologically obsolete, placing a greater importance on relocation to more sophisticated buildings.

On the investment side, Gale & Wentworth is set to continue making strategic new acquisitions. In this marketplace, those with capital are in a position to acquire many excellent opportunities. At Gale & Wentworth, we are focused on acquiring both value-oriented developments that possess, redevelopment potential as well as well-located suburban office buildings that can fill voids in the marketplace. In practice, this strategy is exemplified through our recent acquisition of One Campus Drive in Parsippany; a 377,000 square foot office building that was quickly committed through a long-term lease with Cendant upon our closing.

In conclusion, Gale & Wentworth is positioned to continue to be extremely active in the office sector in New Jersey. In our view, the market still possesses excellent growth prospects. With supply constrained and demand strong from a variety of sectors, Gale & Wentworth expects 2001 to be an excellent year.