Tenants have a lot of options in South Jersey office these days, so it behooves landlords to show vacant space well during space tours, Colliers International Southern New Jersey's Evan Zweben tells us.

“Tenants in the marketplace have many, maybe too many, options, and they can't ‘see what could be’ done to the space," Evan says, with vacancies still fairly high. Recently he repped Gallagher Benefit Services in its lease of nearly 35k SF at 4000 Midlantic Dr in the Laurel Corporate Center, a space that had been occupied by Lockheed Martin for more than 20 years, and which was then carefully prepared to show. Evan (left) is snapped with colleagues Lisa Bariglio (Colliers Wilmington), Brian Sherlock (Colliers South Jersey), Kyle Hilbert (Colliers Philadelphia) and Rick Kingery (Colliers Wilmington).

When the space at 4000 Midlantic became vacant, owner Brandywine Realty Trust gutted the entire building, reconfigured the main entrance and lobby areas, and replaced the first-floor restrooms. "The landlords didn't tell prospect tenants, they showed them," Evans says. The changes mirrored what happened in another recent deal at 2000 Midlantic Dr, which is connected to the 4000 building. New Jersey Schools Insurance Group, repped by Evan, will occupy 20k SF in the building. Among other new features, it now offers a full-service cafeteria, a shared conference area, and a gym for tenants of both buildings.