Fairfield, Westchester markets still strong despite rough year - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

In spite of the past year's economic troubles, the Class A office market in Fairfield and Westchester Counties is still holding strong. Though our occupancy rates remain high throughout W&M's suburban portfolio, we are still able to accommodate prospective tenants' space needs within our buildings. This can be attributed to a few key tenets of W&M's leasing strategy - multi-tenanting all properties with a diverse user base of creditworthy tenants, staggering lease expirations, and working proactively with tenants to meet their changing requirements.

In 2001, we signed 24 leases totaling nearly 500,000 SF. These deals, primarily tenant renewals and expansions, were negotiated in-house on offices ranging in size from 1,600 to 290,000 SF. In the case of our largest deal, in order to accommodate the tenant's need for additional space, we worked proactively with other building occupants to negotiate lease take-backs on underutilized space.

Our new, renewing and expanding tenants, which come from such diverse industries as financial services, accounting, insurance, cosmetics, travel and human resources consulting, find comfort in W&M's financial stability and reputation for providing superior amenities and services at all of the buildings within our Class A portfolio.

W&M's properties are all owned by investment groups led by the Malkin family, which has a four-generation history of success and reliability in real estate. This solid footing is further reinforced by our commitment to providing tenants with the highest quality enhancements and amenities possible. W&M oversees ownership's investments in major property enhancements, including the $8 million program that is well under way at First Stamford Place and the nearly completed $12 million enhancements at 500 Mamaroneck Ave.

Popular amenities and services at our buildings include: on-site, tenants-only fitness centers; in-house or on-campus dining facilities; sundry/convenience shops; tenants-only conference centers; ATMs; top-of-the-line voice, video and data transmission services, including high-speed Internet connections and 24-hour security. All our properties are located at or-near major transportation centers and highway networks, with tenants-only shuttle bus service provided to nearby train stations and shopping centers.

For companies considering moving up to better buildings with top-flight amenities, there are still opportunities to lease quality office space within W&M's portfolio. The largest blocks of available space are at Soundview Plaza in Stamford, Conn., MerrittView, in Norwalk, Conn., and 711 Westchester Avenue, in White Plains, N.Y.

And W&M is able to price space aggressively for replacement leasing to new, creditworthy tenants, since many of our older, expiring leases were signed at rents well below current market rate. Companies wishing to upgrade to Class-A space with top-of-the-line market amenities are already taking advantage of these leasing opportunities.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Hagedorn Publication
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group