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Overall Vacancy Rate Hits a Low in Fairfield County
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Business New Haven
9/18/2000
By: Priscilla Searles
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Fairfield County's overall commercial vacancy rate has hit a record low, declining from 11.2 percent to 6.7 percent, according to a mid-year real estate report issued by the Research Consulting Services Group of Cushman & Wakefield. According to the report: ”Fairfield County is experiencing the same trend that has been playing out in Manhattan. As the vacancy rate in an extremely tight market continues to tighten, the rental rates expand.”
Vacancy rates in Bridgeport, Shelton, Stratford and Trumbull dropped by more than half, posting an aggregate rate of 9.9 percent. Leases of sizable blocks of space by NeuVis, Staples Communications and Gartner Group contributed to the vacancy decline. The Reservoir Corporate Center in Shelton reached full occupancy when several large spaces were leased, including 50,000 square feet leased to Staples Communications. Global Logistics Technologies and Silverstream Software Inc. also leased space in Shelton during the second quarter.
According to Cushman & Wakefield, leasing activity in Fairfield County for the first six months of 2000 totaled almost 2.4 million square feet, more than two times recorded for the same time period of 1999. Cushman & Wakefield credits activity to a hot market and ongoing corporate expansions. Available space declined by 40 percent from 4.2 million square feet last June to 2.5 million square feet in June 2000.
Albert B. Ashforth Inc., pointing out that office space availability is continuing to shrink in Fairfield County, suggests that tenants seeking to expand, relocate or move within Fairfield County need to “assess their facility requirements more often, be more flexible in terms of what they're willing to accept and make decisions quickly when space becomes available.” The company suggests that tenants need to look for “shadow vacancies” or space that is currently occupied but may become available in the near future.
Ashforth reports that the vacancy rate for Class A office space decreased from 6.8 percent in the first quarter of 2000 to 5.1 percent in the second quarter. The company reports 1,693,460 square feet available in Fairfield County as of June 30. The highest Class A office vacancy rates in the county include Shelton (8.7 percent), Trumbull (7.6 percent) and Stratford (6.6 percent).
The growth in new construction, which rebounded in 1999, has continued into 2000. In addition, there were ten recorded sales of major office buildings in Fairfield County during the first half of 2000, compared with 11 by mid-year 1999.
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