CBRE, NKF release 4th-quarter availability numbers
By ALEX PHILIPPIDIS :: January 4, 2007

Two brokerages releasing office vacancy numbers this week offered different pictures about the momentum of Westchester’s office market during the fourth quarter of 2006.

Newmark Knight Frank earlier today showed more than a full percentage point drop in Westchester’s availability rate for class A space, to 12.4 percent from 13.5 percent during both the third quarter of 2006 and fourth quarter 2005. In downtown White Plains, availabilities fell two full points over the past 12 months, to 10.7 percent.

CB Richard Ellis Inc. showed only a slight dip in countywide availability from the third quarter – to 14.68 percent from 14.75 percent. The numbers are slightly higher than the year-ago quarter, when 14.52 percent was recorded.

The brightest sign for Westchester’s office market came in the total amount of office space CB recorded as leased. That rose to 2.86 million square feet for all of 2006, up from 2.09 million square feet last year. Over the past decade an average 2.2 million square feet a year have been leased in Westchester, said William V. Cuddy Jr., a senior vice president with CBRE.

The biggest jolt to the numbers was in downtown White Plains, where availability of office space rose to 15 percent from 12.29 percent in the third quarter and 12.14 percent in the fourth quarter of 2005. Cuddy said that reflects the return to market of 166,355 square feet of space subleased by Argent Mortgage Company L.L.C. at Westchester One (44 South Broadway).

Argent, which leases some 300,000 square feet at Westchester One, is re-examining how to consolidate its White Plains processing center operation following the end of the mortgage boom that prompted the California-based sub-prime lender to expand in the county seat just four years ago. Argent could ultimately hold onto much of what it subleases at Westchester One if it shifts employees there from 210,000 square feet just outside downtown at Cohen Brothers Realty Corp.’s 333 Westchester Ave.

Both brokerages recorded slow but steady increases in the “asking” rent sought by landlords. For class A space, KKF showed $28.44 per square foot in Westchester and $29.91 psf for downtown White Plains. CBRE, $28.13 psf countywide and $29.35 psf in downtown White Plains.

CBRE also tracks class B space, and found average asking rents of $22.47 psf countywide and $23.31 psf in downtown White Plains.