News
NEW DIGS
June 30, 2011
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| Last year, JLL tapped Ray Ruiz and Marianne Dugan to open the firm’s new Long Island office and expand the company presence in the region. After the office hired a slew of new brokers, it was ready for some space—and we were on hand for the grand opening of its new 5,000 SF office at Melville Corporate Center III, where we snapped JLL’s Jon Meisel (Tri-State market leader), RXR Realty’s Jason Forte, Marianne and Ray, and RXR Realty’s Ken Bauer. Ray tells us that the firm is busy selling surplus real estate for the US Postal Service (neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these brokers from the swift completion of their appointed dispositions), working on several large office and investment sales, as well as selling medical condos. The office is currently interviewing several professionals, and anticipates that its ranks will grow as it approaches Q3. |
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| JLL’s Reid Berch, Tom DiMicelli, Rosa Buckley, Daoud Awad(NYC market director), Kyle Crennan, Nick Hayden (director of property management), Linda Aronson (Tri-State managing director), and Brian Cruz. During Q1, indicators illustrated that Long Island was moving in a positive direction (perhaps becoming a...Strong Island), although it would be a long, slow road to recovery, according to JLL research. There was positive job growth during the first three months of the year, with 4,200 jobs created in healthcare and education. Overall, vacancy decreased by a percentage point to 17.7%, while rental rates remained relatively stable (Nassau County,$27.33/SF; Suffolk County, $23.28/SF). Sublease space also decreased from 2.8% to 2.5% since the close of ’10. Although the firm is still compiling its Q2 stats, Ray doesn’t foresee big swings in rental rates and vacancy. “The story has been and may continue to be a slow and steady pace to market equilibrium,” he says. |
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| JLL’s Doug Seale with T. Weiss Realty’s Craig Weiss and CEO Ted Weiss. Last time we visited Melville Corporate Center III (‘08, eons ago), the building’s second tenant was just moving in. But now the building is 92% leased to prime tenants (TD Bank, Aviva Insurance,Ameriprise Financial, among JLL and others) with only one 12k SF suite available for lease, says Ted, whose firm owns the building. Melville, as a submarket, is very healthy, he tells us—out of the 600k SF it owns in the area, less that 5% is available. Other areas in Suffolk and Nassau aren’t as strong, and the firm is currently in the last stages of selling off its properties in Nassau. |
