IDI is developing a 1.35- million- sq.-ft. (125,400- sq.-m.) distribution facility on an 88- acre (36- hectare) site near the 8A exit of the New Jersey Turnpike in South Brunswick. Known as Middlesex Center, the project will be completed in the first quarter of 2007. "Demand among users for facilities proximate to the ports of New Jersey and New York will continue to increase, but the developments under way in Northern New Jersey can only meet a portion of that demand," says Frank Petkunas, vice president and regional development director in IDI's Philadelphia office. "Many of the available parcels are infill sites that can only accommodate smaller buildings."    The 8A submarket is increasingly attractive to companies as inventory space farther north is harder to come by. Big- box users that have leased space ranging from 600,000 sq. ft. (55,740 sq, m.) to more than 1 million sq. ft. (92,900 sq. m.) in the market include Barnes & Noble, Costco Wholesale Co., The Home Depot, Williams- Sonoma and Volkswagen of America.

   On the corporate side, being near New York but not in New York has taken on added significance since 9/11, particularly for sensitive operations, such as financial transaction processing.
   "Large companies are viewing their multi-regional facilities with disaster-related contingencies in mind to an extent they never did before," says Emanuel Stern, president and chief operating officer of Hartz Mountain Industries, a leading commercial real estate company in the northern New Jersey and New York area market. "The federal government has mandated that disaster recovery solutions can't be too close to Manhattan or too far apart," he points out.
   The events of September 11, 2001, took place in the midst of an already-weakening office environment and drove the market further into the doldrums. Simultaneously, anyone with sublease space to rent did so to make up for the loss of 16 million square feet (1.5 million sq. m.) of space in lower Manhattan, and much of that was in New Jersey. The drop in lease rates in New York was felt in New Jersey in the period after 9/11 as well.
   More recently, financial service companies, among others, have been in growth mode, and those that have been growing for at least a year are adding jobs, notes Stern. "And then they need real estate. We're at the point in the cycle now," he adds, "where Manhattan pricing is pushing up, and New Jersey suddenly looks cheap again. The cost savers are coming out of Manhattan again, and the northern New Jersey office market is having a solid year. We're at the beginning of a good run." Among the markets Stern identifies as poised for enhanced development – due in part to proximity to New York and "cost effectiveness" – are Hudson County and the Meadowlands area north of Newark.

Matrix Development Group, Cranbury, N.J., and Wachovia Bank NA are the co-recipients of New Jersey Future's Smart Growth Leadership Award for their partnership in relocating Wachovia's regional headquarters to a $15.7-million development in the heart of Trenton, in collaboration with the city and the Economic Development Corporation of Trenton, and their ongoing commitment to smart growth. Wachovia is leasing the top three floors – 43,500 sq. ft. (4,000 sq. m.) – of the 66,500-sq.-ft. (6,200-sq.-m.) Class A office building.    To receive the award, a developer must exhibit work that meets at least five of the following seven smart growth criteria: (1) it is located near existing development and infrastructure; (2) it increases the range of housing options; (3) it creates or enhances a vibrant mix of uses, such as residential, retail and office; (4) it protects open space, farmland and critical environmental areas; (5) it creates or enhances choices for getting around; (6) it is walkable and designed for activities at street level that encourage personal interaction; (7) it respects community character, design and historic features.    The city of Trenton is in the midst of an economic renaissance with programs designed to assist businesses, including local business-development incentives, the Trenton Urban Enterprise Zone and Trenton Small Business Week.