2016 Year in Review: Pete Gillett, North Forest Office Space

Pete Gillett, North Forest Office Space

Name & Title: Pete Gillett

Company Name: North Forest Office Space

What project, transaction, market trend or product had the greatest impact on your industry this year?

I think the biggest market trend that occurred this year in the investment in upstate downtown markets.

It will be interesting to see where  a lot of millennials and retirees will choose to live in the next few years since upstate markets (Buffalo/Rochester) now have various new downtown residential projects offering up scale lofts & condos to compete with suburban single family houses. A few years ago the options to live in Downtown Rochester were pretty limited and a shift of population to the downtown market in something to watch out for since the commercial market would follow shorty after. 

What emerging trends will drive investment and development in 2017?

An overall stable market will help continue to drive investment in a lot of our smaller business customers. 

According to research I have read from commercial real estate development group NAIOP they expect net absorption of office space to decline in 2017 but expect it to remain positive overall. They believe that the office sector is better positioned for expansion than some of the other real estate sectors and “Professional and Business Services” and “Financial Activities”— have been the strongest, with average year-over-year growth rates. If those businesses continue to growth this would obviously help drive development  and we have found this to be true in the Rochester market having worked with several financial businesses expanding in 2016.