OLD BRIDGE--Retail vacancies are on the rise along major shopping corridors in Northern and Central New Jersey, according to an interim survey conducted last month by R.J. Brunelli & Co., creating what the firm calls “rare expansion opportunities” in prime properties for national retail and restaurant companies.
Breaking with its 19-year tradition of conducting its annual retail vacancy study in January and February, the Old Bridge-based retail real estate brokerage surveyed Northern and Central New Jersey’s ten retail corridors in November to determine the impact of the worldwide financial crisis and deepening recession on vacancies. In Northern New Jersey, the retail vacancy rate increased from 3.6% earlier this year to 5.7%, while the vacancy factor in the Central market jumped from 4.7% to 6.6%.
The firm’s study reviewed shopping centers and freestanding buildings exceeding 2,000 sf, including freestanding restaurants and auto service facilities. Enclosed regional malls and centers under construction or redevelopment were excluded from the survey. Corridors covered in the Northern region were State Highways 4, 10, 17, 22, 23 and 46/3, and certain intersecting arteries in Bergen, Essex, Morris, Passaic, Somerset and Union counties The Central region’s study area included State Highways 1, 9, 18 and 35 in Mercer, Middlesex and Monmouth counties, and a small section of Ocean County.
The November study found that some retail corridors have been more adversely affected than others. In particular, Route 18 in East Brunswick took the most severe hit from closures of a number of big boxes, driving its vacancy rate from 7.3% in early 2008 to 13.0% today. With more bankruptcies widely expected to be announced in early 2009, the firm forecasts that vacancy rates on many of both regions’ roadways should climb to their highest levels since it began the annual survey process in 1989.
R.J. Brunelli & Co.
www.njretailrealty.com
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