b'10American Journal of Transportation ajot.comNew Jerseys industrial real estate market:PANYNJ Largest Import and Export Commodities 2019hot, hot, hot! Import Commodities TEUs Export CommoditiesTEUSFurniture 444,266 Wood Pulp 224,863By Peter Buxbaum, AJOT Machinery & Appliances 289,890 Vehicle Parts 214,520Just last month, the development of the Phillipsburg Logistics Center at 78, aPlastics 252,548 Plastic 99,761511,200-square-foot, Class A speculative industrial building in Phillipsburg, NewBeverages 225,525 Wood & Articles of Wood 77,555Jersey, was announced by JLL Capital Markets, which provided financing for the project. Located on the Delaware River, Phillipsburg is part of the Lehigh ValleySource: PANYNJIndustrial submarket, is in a position to serve businesses in the New York/NewPANYNJ TEU ImportsJersey region, and is within a 24-hour drive of one-third of the nations population.Given its proximity along I-78 to the Ports of New York and New Jersey2019 2018along with its phenomenal labor force, said JLL senior managing director John Plower, the Phillipsburg pocket of the Lehigh Valley is extremely attractive toLoaded TEUs Empty TEUS Loaded TEUs Empty TEUsdevelopers, capital sources, and, most important, industrial users. 3,770,971 17,508 3,676,109 16,799If it seems odd that developers would plow ahead with speculative warehous-ing space during a pandemic, one only has to look at the numbers to understandPANYNJ TEU Exportswhy. Despite the current economic uncertainty, leasing for Class A space in the Garden State has accelerated recently, with volume hitting its second highest level2019 2018since 2008 in the second quarter of this year. Over 10 million square feet was leased in New Jersey during the second quar- Loaded TEUs Empty TEUS Loaded TEUs Empty TEUster, according to a recent JLL report. Pent up demand from the March and April1,460,447 2,222.205 1,476,780 2,010,100lockdown could account for a flurry of deals closed in May and June. But the trend continued into the third quar-ter,withtotalleasedspace nearing11millionsquare feetfromJulythroughSep-tember, according to Colliers International. Far from being an anomaly, the Phillipsburg development could represent a signal of things to come. Class Aindustrialvacan-cies in New Jersey remained athyper-lowlevels,noted JLL. E-commerce is expected to dominate future leasing as it accounts for over 35% of active tenant requirements. (The real estate services company CBRE definesClass Apropertiesas those built since 1997 with at least100,000squarefeetand 28-foot ceiling heights.)Atthesametime,lower qualitybuildingssawan uptickinvacancies,mostly duetosubleaseavailability. Totalstatewidevacantspace roseby1.1millionsquare feet between April and June, and over 600,000 square feet ofthatwassubleasespace, accordingtotheJLLreport. Over 92% of the states vacant subleasespacewasfoundin Class B and Class C facilities.This suggests, according to the JLL report, that small to medium sized businesses, who donthaveasrobustbalance sheetsasFortune500com-panies,arelessequippedto handle a prolonged shutdown. Class A vacancies, on the other hand, held at 1.8% during the second quarter, driving average asking rents 5.9% higher year1over year. Thequartersdemand was broad-based, according to the JLL report, but e-com-mercewasthemostactive industry.Amazonleased nearlyone-millionsquare feet this year in Edison, N.J., in the central part of the state, noted Colliers. The JLL report concluded thateconomicuncertaintystemming from the COVID-191pandemiccontinuestocreate a fluid and evolving environ-ment for the industrial market. Nonetheless,E-commerce demandisexpectedtocon-tinue to flourish. This bodes well for developers and land- 1lords of Class A space.'