New BOMA Standard: What Size Is Your Office Building Really?
Need more proof that the way millennials work is impacting office real estate? Read the full report here.
Tag: trends
The Sustainable Office: A peek into the modern changing office
We were very happy to attend the Princeton Chamber of Commerce’s “The New Way of Work” event put together by the Real Estate Business Alliance yesterday morning.
The panel discussion, along with breakfast & networking, was held at the Springdale Golf Club in downtown Princeton.
Featured speakers included Brian Marrs (Manager, Policy & Strategic Sustainability) & Bill Walsh (Director of Corporate Facilities) at NRG Energy and our friend Marlyn Zucosky (Partner & Director of Interior Design) at Joshua Zinder Architecture + Design.
Mr. Marrs & Mr. Walsh excitedly shared a sneak peak of what NRG’s new Princeton building, located on Route 1 in Carnegie Center, will include. The 130,000 sf building will serve as NRG’s new headquarters and is a mix of sustainable design elements for the sake of the environment and also experiments of NRG initiatives. Learn more about all of the features of the project on NRG’s website, here.
Ms. Zucosky discussed trends they are currently seeing in office space design: layouts that allow for more natural light into the center of the floor plan, open work spaces, huddle areas, game room and other elements to attract Millennials to companies. Mr. Walsh commented that many of the trends JZA+D has been noticing are in fact being employed within the new NRG building. Check out some of JZA+D’s projects here.
Companies Want Quality
The Princeton market is seeing a trend- companies moving to new space not because they need to expand, or shrink- but because they want an upgrade. Current building stock, an uptick in the economy in general and the need to create a work environment that will attract quality talent are all helping to herd companies toward higher quality buildings. Landlords with lower rental rates are helping, too.
Glut, defunct & stranded: What do these words describe?
NJBiz uses these words (in the article linked below) to describe suburban corporate campuses in New Jersey- with enough combined square footage to fill five Empire State Buildings.
PlanSmart NJ has taken on the task of developing a “toolkit” of sorts for municipalities to begin to deal with the 14.5 million square feet of vacant, obsolete office and/or lab space in 94 of the state’s largest (over 200K sf) buildings. These campuses that dot New Jersey’s suburban landscape are often referred to as “stranded assets” and will need some creative thinking to reposition them.
“We’re looking at it holistically — that this is an economic development project, it’s an environmental protection project, it’s a resource efficiency project,” said Ann Brady, PlanSmart NJ’s executive director. “We think there’s a lot of opportunity with these sites, to better connect them to the greater community, to use the infrastructure that’s already there, so we’re directing growth to areas where there’s already existing infrastructure.”
Oftentimes municipalities fear redevelopment, rezoning and mixed-use projects. PlanSmart NJ “hopes to frame the issue by quantifying the problem” with “a major two-year research project that will compile data on vacancy, demographics, property tax appeals and other metrics related to the sites, with the aim of creating a guidebook for local officials and sparking a policy change that could help them find new life as mixed-use assets”.
How are NJ’s incentives doing?
We’ve posted a lot about New Jersey’s current incentive packages aimed at both retaining current jobs and businesses within the state’s borders and also attempting to attract new businesses and jobs.
There are both fans and critics of these programs, as with most things. In an attempt to get an unbiased answer on whether or not these incentive packages are doing their job- Rutgers University has been given the task of figuring just that out and will start researching and releasing reports in the next 3 years.
Will more mixed-use projects find homes in central New Jersey?
The phrase “mixed-use” has been around for a long time, but seems to be growing more prominent in conversations, news articles and online discussions each day. We’ve mentioned a few mixed-use projects in this news section in the past and have had many conversations in the office voicing different viewpoints and imagining possibilities for here in Mercer County.
We can point to a few examples of existing mixed-use environments in our backyard: downtown Princeton (Mercer Co, NJ) and Lambertville and New Hope (Hunterdon Co, NJ and Bucks Co, PA, respectively) that have been around for a long time and are very successful at being what mixed-use plans hope to be: any urban, suburban or village development (even a single building) that blends a combination of residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or industrial uses where those functions are physically and functionally integrated, and that provides pedestrian connections. Mixed-use has had a variety of exact definitions over the years and still gets used in different ways from time to time- if you are interested in digging a little deeper, this article provided by Placemakers is a good place to start to understand the nuances.
We recently attended the Princeton Chamber of Commerce’s REBA (Real Estate Business Alliance) breakfast event (Bringing Positive Change to the Princeton Region) that was centered around planning concepts that would attract millennials and empty nesters to the Princeton/Mercer region- in particular Trenton. The mixed-use concept was spoke about at length- looking at demographics and trends around the country for the targeted age groups and considering how to apply them to our backyard.
Here is an article about the sale of a long vacant building in Hightstown that hints that a mixed-use redevelopment may be in the cards. An article from earlier in the month follows the possible redevelopment of the Ocean Spray site in Bordentown into a possible “gateway into town” mixing loft style office space and possibly a brewery, yoga studio, etc.
What does this mean for the real estate landscape in Mercer County (commercial, residential, retail, industrial)? Do you see this type of project taking hold and changing our area? Or is this another fad that will pass?
We’d love to hear your thoughts and continue the conversation. You can find us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
US1 Covers Sab Russo’s Commercial Real Estate Trends
Sab had a chance to chat with Diccon Hyatt of US1 last week before he gave his presentation at the MIDJersey Chamber’s Breakfast Forum on Thursday the 23rd.
Hyatt not only learned about the booms & busts that would be in Sab’s presentation, but also a little more about Sab himself.
Industry Thought Leaders Discuss the Princeton Commercial Real Estate Market
This morning’s MIDJersey Chamber Breakfast Forum had a great turnout, despite the cold rainy start to the day.
Attendees sipped coffee and snacked on pastries as Jerry Fennelly (NAI Fennelly), Sab Russo (Mercer Oak Realty) and David Lodato (Credit Union of New Jersey) took turns speaking about various important aspects of the current Princeton Commercial Real Estate Market. The gentlemen fielded questions from the audience after all three presentations had been given.
Sab Russo covered drivers of the market- what we’ve seen in the past during upturns and down swings, and distilled that information to help us understand what markers may present themselves to help us anticipate the next down swing. He also spoke about some changes that have been seen recently in regards to how companies are actually using their space, and how their needs have changed.
“No one can predict the future, but what we can do is study what has happened in the past, understand why it happened and use that new knowledge to help guide our clients and ourselves to more informed decisions for tomorrow.” explained Sab. “We’ve been tracking market statistics and trends since the mid 80’s- you shouldn’t live in the past, but it’s quite helpful to visit from time to time.”
Jerry Fennelly spoke at length about detailed market transactions and possible future trends in the commercial real estate market. David Lodato spent time sharing what the Credit Union has seen happening with their clients and also touched on Crowdsourcing, and how some new laws may change the game.
Mercer Oak Realty would like to extend a big thank you to the MIDJersey Chamber of Commerce for inviting us to be a part of this great event- as well as the Credit Union of NJ & V.J. Scozzari & Sons, for sponsoring and helping to organize the breakfast.
Breakfast Forum: Commercial Real Estate Trends in Central NJ
What’s your Thursday morning look like? Have time to grab a cup of coffee and danish with us?
Our President, Sab Russo will be joining MIDJersey Chamber’s Commercial Real Estate Trends in Central NJ panel this Thursday morning, October 23rd, from 8 am until 10 am at Mountain View Golf Course. Sab will be speaking along side Jerry Fennelly of NAI Fennelly and David Lodato of the Credit Union of New Jersey and then fielding attendees questions.
What trends are we currently seeing in the Commercial Real Estate Market in the area? What trends have we seen before? Can they be used to help us better understand what may happen tomorrow? Join us & find out!