As published in the Mid Atlantic Real Estate Journal July 25-August 14, 2014
The office market in Northeastern Pennsylvania encompasses the principle cities in the market, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton located in Lackawanna and Luzerne Counties.
The Suburban Class A Market is along the I-81 Corridor from Clarks Summit to the I-80 crossroads in Greater Hazleton, a distance of approximately thirty five miles. There exists other Class A buildings in the market. They are either in free standing locations, considered part of one of the three CBD submarkets or located in parks where the majority of buildings are industrial.
The Mt. Pleasant Corporate Center within the city limits of Scranton can accommodate four or five free standing office buildings in a park setting adjacent to Scranton’s CBD. There was one 30,750SF spec building constructed. It is occupied by medical tenants, and was fully leased in the last three years. Mt. Pleasant is approximately six miles from the Glenmaura Corporate Center.
SUBURBAN CLASS A OFFICE MARKET
CAN DO CORPORATE CENTER, DRUMS (HAZLETON). This park contains three buildings with a total square footage of 100,000. There is land available for new construction. In the last year, 40 Azalea Drive, 51,560 SF was sold to the Hazleton Area School District for a STEM school. It was a spec office building that sat vacant for four years. 10 Azalea Drive, 39,429SF, is occupied by Network Solutions. At 10 Fox Run Road, there is a freestanding 10,000SF office building sold in 2013 to investors.
EAST MOUNTAIN CORPORATE CENTER (WILKES-BARRE). This park contains ten buildings with a built out square footage of approximately 500,000SF. In addition there is a 42,000SF spec office building under construction. There is land available for new construction. The tenant mix is medical, government and private businesses. The vacancy rate for this park is approximately 10 %.
GLENMAURA CORPORATE CENTER AND THE W.W. SCRANTON OFFICE PARK (SCRANTON AND MOOSIC BOROUGH). The two parks are within one mile of one another and contain ten office buildings with a total square footage of 976,120SF. There is additional land available for new construction.
The Center tenancy consists of banking, insurance, health care, financial and legal services and IT and call centers.
In Glenmaura, the largest building at 300,000SF is fully occupied by Bank of America. In 2013, the Cigna Building (53 Glenmaura National Boulevard) at 189,000SF was transformed from a single tenant to a multi-tenant building. CIGNA remains as the anchor tenant in 90,000SF. HCRE negotiated a lease on behalf of the landlord with Harper Collins for 34,617SF. It was signed in September of 2013 with occupancy on March 3, 2014. Currently there are three suites available with a total of 51,929SF.
Glenmaura Plaza (50, 52, and 54 Glenmaura National Boulevard) is a three building complex with a total square footage of 180,000SF. HCRE negotiated three leases on behalf of the landlord in the 2013 with occupancy in 2014 for 29,782 with VaxServe; a 4,100SF expansion for Deluxe Digital Studios, Inc., and a 5,505SF relocation within the complex of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. There is 2,200SF currently available in Glenmaura Plaza.
73 Glenmaura National Boulevard is a 35,000SF multi-tenant building with a less than 1% vacancy.
In the W.W. Scranton Office Park, the former JC Penny Building at 29,120SF, vacant for two years, has been leased to Diversified Information Technologies. The Prudential at 171,000SF
The vacancy rate for both parks is approximately 6%.
ABINGTON EXECUTIVE PARK (SOUTH ABINGTON TOWNSHIP). The park contains four buildings with a total square footage of 378,000SF. There is additional land available for new construction. The tenant mix consists of insurance, non profit and professional services. The largest tenants are Met Life, 214,000SF and Allied Services, 129,700SF. The current vacancy rate is less than 1%.
CENTER POINT (PITTSTON AND JENKINS TOWNSHIPS) Developed by Mericle Commercial Real Estate at the intersection of I-476 and I-81, Center Point is the newest industrial business park in the region. Primarily a logistics and distribution hub, the park has recently leased to Maximus and 3Ci, two large office tenants, in a flex building. Also Center Point has begun marketing Center Point West as a location for mid-size office tenants. With the preferred location between the principle cities of Scranton and Wilkes-Barre and with an office product different from Glenmaura’s Class A office product, Center Point will compete with those office products offered in Hanover Industrial Estates and Crestwood Industrial Park which have a mix both industrial and office products.
HANOVER INDUSTRIAL ESTATES (HANOVER TOWNSHIP) This Park is located along the I-81 south of the Scranton-Wilkes-Barrecorridor between Hazleton and Wilkes-Barre. The majority of the park is occupied by warehouse, manufacturing and distribution operations. The largest office tenants are Sallie Mae and 50 New Commerce Boulevard. Downtown Wilkes-Barre is ten minutes north and Luzerne County Community College is five minutes south. Exit 2 of Route 29 (South Cross Valley Expressway) at Middle Road provides access for labor from the population centers along the Susquehanna River and the western side Luzerne County. This interchange is minutes from 50 New Commerce Boulevard.
JOHN T. COGNETTI, SIOR, CCIM
HINERFELD COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE
