BOMA Westchester holds annual state of
the market luncheon

White Plains, NY More than 100 commercial property owners and brokers were on hand for the annual state of the market luncheon presented by the Building Owners and Managers Association of Westchester (BOMA). The event was held January 10^th at 360 Hamilton Auditorium.

The panelists included Ian Ceppos of JLL, Kevin Plunkett of Simone Development, Mark Stagg of the Stagg Group, and Kevin McCarthy of Cushman & Wakefield. The panelists were generally upbeat about the outlook for the industrial, healthcare and residential markets. Not so for the office market.

McCarthy said about 26% of 23 million s/f of office space in Westchester is vacant, and vacancies are likely to continue. “We’re in a crisis,” he said adding, “In Westchester County, we got quality infrastructure, healthcare, industrial properties. But we do not have quality offices.”

Plunkett said some major hospitals in New York City are expanding to Westchester and looking for new facilities. “There’s a lot of exciting things going on in healthcare. We think it’s going to continue,” Plunkett said. “We’re very positive about being able to expand the Westchester community even more with the hospital systems.”

Ceppos said industrial properties have been in high demand amid the e-commerce boom. He said in Westchester they are mostly warehouses and distribution centers, compared to the manufacturing facilities of the past. While demand for industrial space remains high, availability is limited. He noted that it’s too expensive to build new industrial spaces in Westchester. He said more industrial space is being built in Putnam and Orange counties.

Construction of new apartment buildings continued to boom in 2023. Hundreds of residential buildings continue to be built in Westchester’s major cities, creating tens of thousands of apartment units. Stagg said a big concern in the multi-family sector is whether the market can absorb so many units. He said we need to build more affordable housing and smaller projects. “I think developers will be very selective in 2024,” Stagg said.

The panel discussion was moderated by Betsy Buckley of JLL.