Newmark Knight Frank Arranges 200 KSF Lease in NJ

July 1, 2019

Brokerage Deals Featured Industrial More New York News Northeast

The tenant at the industrial property in Parsippany is Vitaquest International, a manufacturer of nutraceuticals, which will use the facility for both production and distribution.

100 Jefferson Road. Image via Google Maps

Newmark Knight Frank has arranged a new long-term lease for nutraceutical maker Vitaquest International at a 537,000-square-foot property in Parsippany, N.J. Vitaquest will occupy more than 200,000 square feet of industrial space for a new manufacturing and distribution facility at 100 Jefferson Road, as the company expands its food product development and manufacturing operations in New Jersey.

Vitaquest already has operations in West Caldwell and Fairfield. NKF Managing Director James Ritman of the Stamford office and Associate Director Trevor Patterson of the Rutherford office represented Vitaquest in this transaction.

According to Patterson, Northern New Jersey continues to be a strong market for industrial space and has extremely low vacancy rates, which makes it difficult for tenants looking to expand their operations in that market. NKF did not respond to Commercial Property Executive’s request for additional information.

One blip in a steady market

Despite some headwinds arising from uncertainty around trade, the Northern and Central New Jersey industrial market had an exceptionally good quarter in terms of leasing activity, according to a first-quarter report from Cushman & Wakefield. In addition, net absorption was strong, rents continue to rise—to an average of $8.78 per square foot—and the development pipeline is active. E-commerce and third-party logistics tenants have dominated leasing activity for spaces of 100,000 square feet or larger.

The one small glitch was that vacancy ticked up for the first time in four-and-a-half years, to 3.5 percent. This is expected to be temporary, however, as tenant interest remains healthy and preleasing of speculative space has been substantial.

In January, Executive Managing Director Dennis Waggner and Research Director John Obeid of Colliers International detailed how the New Jersey Turnpike Corridor is evolving, as asking rents soar and developable sites dwindle.