Mayor: Empty storefronts a new reality
By Jeremy Grossman
(Note: Originally published in the October 30, 2014 issue of Greater Media Newspapers)
EAST BRUNSWICK — It would take more than a century to fill retail space in a corridor along Route 18, according to real estate professionals.
This was just one of the many facts described as “gloomy” and “concerning” at an Oct. 13 Township Council meeting, where Mayor David Stahl began a discussion on business redevelopment and vacant retail properties in the township.
“Vacancies in East Brunswick are actually down since when I took office as mayor, but obviously much more needs to be done,” he said.
East Brunswick has a 12 percent commercial vacancy rate, while both the state and Middlesex County are at 6 percent, according to statistics discussed at the meeting.
Stahl said the retail world is evolving, and physical stores — referred to as brick and mortar stores — are competing with online shopping sites.
“People can say over and over again that we need to fill the stores, as if to say it will make it happen,” Stahl said. “America’s economy is about capitalism. Businesses move into areas where their studies indicate that they can make a profit. Perhaps the new reality is that we just have too much retail space here in East Brunswick.”
Jeff Otteau, a real estate expert from the Otteau Valuation Group, analyzed present and future business conditions for the township.
Otteau focused on an area in East Brunswick that runs along Route 18 between Eggers Street to the north, and West Ferris Street to the south. According to statistics, it would take 121 years to fill the retail space in this corridor at the current development rate, Otteau said.
“In other words, there is absolutely no hope that this problem will get better without some form of intervention, without some form of action,” he said.
According to Otteau, the township’s development problem has little to do with the 2008 economic recession.
“It’s been more than five years since the recession ended, and the economy has been growing. And yet here we find ourselves more than five years downstream, and there are extraordinary challenges affecting retail space here in East Brunswick,” he said.
Those challenges include a more globalized economy, shrinking household size and a “millennial shift” with the 25–34 age group in the township declining by 19 percent, according to Otteau.
“There are fewer shoppers living in the town to spend the dollars necessary to support the quantity of retail space that exists here in East Brunswick,” he said. “And I can tell you that the same is not happening in New Jersey, nor is it happening in Middlesex County. It’s specifically happening here in East Brunswick because of the landscape of zoning laws and uses, and housing choices and the lack of a rail station.”
Otteau also referred to “availability” statistics, which differ from retail vacancy statistics in that a tenant is currently paying rent but has given notice of the intent to vacate. East Brunswick’s availability rate is 13 percent.
Ultimately, Otteau concluded that the township must reshape the landscape to create redevelopment areas that would mix retail and housing.
“We found around the state that when these synergistic redevelopments occur — mixing retail and lifestyle in the same place — it becomes a lure and attraction to employers, because now a place has been created where the 25- to 34-year-olds, which large companies are all chasing, are living.”