Cushman & Wakefield Reports: Westchester County Office Leasing Activity Slow During First Quarter

7 Apr, 2005, White Plains, NY

CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD REPORTS:
WESTCHESTER COUNTY OFFICE LEASING
ACTIVITY SLOW DURING FIRST QUARTER;
INFLUX OF UPCOMING DEALS SHOW
STRONG SIGNS FOR SECOND QUARTER
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Many large leasing deals pending

Cushman & Wakefield has released statistics for the Westchester County office market that indicate there was little new demand for space in the first quarter. The firm did specify that a number of large deals were in the transaction pipeline, indicating encouraging signs for the second quarter and remainder of the year.

Cushman & Wakefield reported that several tenants in Westchester County are in the market for office space in excess of 50,000 square feet (sf) for relocation and/or expansion. Leasing activity from these tenants in the market will do much to improve the vacancy rate, which stands at 17.0% for the county, an increase from the year-end 2004 rate of 16.8% and the first quarter of 2004 rate of 15.6%. The increase in vacancy rate is also heavily due to several former owner-occupied buildings returning to the market as available space.

Leasing activity in Westchester County totaled 232,865 sf in the first quarter of 2005, trailing last year's first quarter total of 324,965 sf. Ginsburg Development signed one of the largest new leases during the quarter, relocating and expanding to 36,341 sf at 100 Summit Lake Drive in Valhalla and vacating 15,000 sf at 245 Saw Mill River Road in Hawthorne. Encore Credit also subleased 21,197 sf at 925 Westchester Avenue in White Plains Non-CBD.

"While leasing activity in Westchester County for the most part was limited in the first quarter, several large deals in the marketplace and the continued improvement of the local economy, are encouraging signs," said Jim Fagan, senior managing director and head of Cushman & Wakefield's Westchester County, Fairfield County and Long Island offices. The significant amount of leasing activity in the transactional pipeline is a positive trend for Westchester County especially since a lot of the activity is not just tenants moving but tenants expanding."

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