Report: Route 17 Heights Area Among Strongest Retail Corridors

Good news for Hasbrouck Heights, as a survey of retail corridors shows that the area of Route 17 from Rochelle Park down to Rutherford (which includes Heights) is amongst the strongest in North and Central New Jersey.

According to the end of year survey conducted by the Paramus-based Goldstein Group, the Rochelle Park-Rutherford Route 17 retail corridor has the lowest vacancy rate, 2.2 percent, among the 22 retail corridors surveyed. The average vacancy rate is 7.8 percent according to the group's report. Route 3-Clifton has just a slightly lower rate of 2.2 percent.

Several businesses opened on Route 17 in Heights over the past year or more such as Heights Beer and Wine Emporium, Jump On In, Verizon Wireless and a hotel is planned for the location next to Ottawa Avenue where a vacant office building now stands. There have also been vacancies on the highway such as Curly's Ice Cream which just closed its doors after a little more than a year.

Other nearby areas like Paramus had above average vacancy rates according to the report. Route 4 Paramus is still considered on the low side with a rate of 8.3 percent, while Route 17 Paramus is considered among the weakest with 11.4 percent. The highest was Route 18- East Brunswick with 18.2 percent.

The Goldstein Group reports that the market still appears to continue its slow recovery from the downtown that hit in 2008 and 2009.  Improvement does continue as the average vacancy rate is down from 8.2 percent in July 2009, the highest peak almost double what it was in January 2008 when the average vacancy rate was 4.1, according to figures released in the report.

Goldstein Group’s President Chuck Lanyard cites that improvement continues but “it is still a ‘tenants’ market. “Opportunistic retailers are leasing at attractive rental rates and securing locations by taking advantage of market conditions,” said Lanyard in a release.

“The stronger submarkets saw a flurry of leasing activity in 2012 with several having little remaining space available in such corridors as the Paramus Route 4 and Clifton Area Route 3 markets. Larger blocks of space have been absorbed in these markets,” said Lanyard.

Lanyard calls the recovery of the retail market continuing at “a slow but steady pace with solid growth in leasing activity and decreasing vacancies.”  He forsees that growth will continue in 2013 “as much of the recession’s on the retail marketplace is appearing to be behind us.”

See the chart below to see how Paramus compares with other retail corridors in North and Central New Jersey.