Andrew Judd's 2017 Outlook
Andrew Judd is wrapping up his first year as New Jersey market leader for Cushman & Wakefield, with his team set to close more than 800 transactions in 2016. We sat down with him to find out what’s on the horizon.
Those 800 deals comprised $3B worth of office and industrial leasing and sales transactions spanning 30M SF, placing Cushman & Wakefield again in a dominant market position as both landlord and tenant rep, as well as giving its capital markets group more than 50% of market share for more than 10 years running, he tells us.
Among the major clients the firm has been representing include The Rockefeller Group, TA Realty, Mack-Cali, SJP Properties, Prologis, Novartis, AT&T, LG Electronics and Summit Medical Group.
Last week’s election and geopolitical events shouldn’t have a large impact on New Jersey’s long-term real estate decision making going forward, he predicts, but day-by-day news sound bites may delay things a little bit.
“Ultimately, companies need places in which to house their key employees,” he says. “The economy is strong, and while 2017 may not be record breaking, the opportunity is there in all product types as the local economy continues its upswing.”
Andrew, pictured above with his family, says most of the deals will continue to be concentrated and notable in markets with either live/work/play environments that support Millennials, provide mass transit or have Class-A product available.
They won’t just be the traditional FIRE tenants—he's seen a continuous uptick in TAMI tenants, including Omnicom and Atlantic Coast Media Group in Jersey City, Jet.com in Hoboken, Alliant Technologies near Morristown and Medidata Solutions in Metropark, among others.
And despite some doom and gloom about New Jersey’s “medicine cabinet” fleeing the state for cheaper tax and corporate costs, the data doesn’t support such a mass exodus of big pharma, generic pharma, healthcare and hospital tenants. One of New Jersey's benefits is it continues to offer a well-educated labor pool that is difficult to find in many other places.
“On paper, it looks good to move out of state to save on costs, but then companies do an analysis to learn the labor is simply not out there to the extent they need,” he says. “All of a sudden, they don’t have the talent to run and grow their core business.”
New Jersey also continues to be a tale of two cities, combining Class-A product with an aging suburban building stock throughout the state that is ripe for repurposing. Forward-thinking developers will continue to turn them into workplaces—much like Somerset Development did with Bell Works—with the hope that some of the workforce will look to leave the “temporary stepping stone” places proximate to New York City after marriage and children.
Although Andrew has only been market leader for a year, he joined Cushman & Wakefield 12 years ago as a marketing manager, then worked his way up the ranks.
Today, he oversees 200 employees in three offices, including, as of this week, a new location in Iselin. (The state HQ will remain in East Rutherford, which continues to be bolstered by the firm’s strong presence in Morristown.)
“By Q1, all of our employees will be sitting in brand-new or completely renovated space,” he says. “We have to follow the advice we give our clients—that this kind of modern efficient space promotes collaboration, helps recruit top talent and supports a multi-generational workforce.”
Outside of work, Andrew is a classic movie buff and can quote quite a few films word-for-word. He’s also a huge Frank Sinatra fan, having grown up on his music. He’s married and has a daughter and son, so his free time is spent on their activities and interests.
In its spare moments, his family loves traveling down the Shore for some beach time and recently returned from a trip to Rome, above.
“It was really special, a combination of cool vacation and education,” he says. “It gave my children a new perspective and got them away from iPads for a week. It gave them an important sense of history, culture and where their roots are.”
