Charlene O’Connell Reports on the Office Leasing Market in Fairfield County

In episode four of the Real Estate Roundup, Managing Partner Eric Bernheim interviewed Charlene O’Connell, vice president of Norwalk-based commercial real estate brokerage firm Choyce Peterson. With a background in commercial lending with Bank of America, Charlene now leads her company’s business development efforts in tenant representation, landlord representation, and investment sales in Fairfield County.

In the interview, Charlene highlights the state of the office market, noting that research company Costar reported that leasing in Norwalk was up 50% from a year ago and that major companies like Frontier Communications and Ivy Rehab have signed news leases. That being said, availability rates in Greenwich, Stamford, Westport and Norwalk still ticked up from 29.7 to 31.7 %, or 5.8 million square feet or 378 football fields, the highest the market has seen in 11-plus years.  Charlene is optimistic though given the influx of people to Fairfield County, noting that 17,000 changes of address were filed in the past year, and one might expect some of those new residents to set up shop in the county as well.

Charlene explained the value that she and her firm bring to both landlord and tenant clients. For landlords, the company assembles a team of brokers, research analysts, and administration professionals to create robust programs to market office space that includes direct outreach to businesses, market outreach, news wires, social media and advertising, including LinkedIn ads. They also extend personal invitations to tour buildings, and recently invited the Norwalk Chamber and the mayor to tour a building they are representing in Norwalk.

For tenants, the brokers at Choyce Peterson learn their clients’ needs and because they are so entrenched in the market, are able to identify office space in buildings that meet their specific needs. Companies benefit from retaining a broker who knows the market and can negotiate aggressively on their behalf. Understanding market dynamics enables brokers to save their tenant-clients a significant amount of money over the lifetime of their leases. They can also identify sublease space, when appropriate, which provides companies with not only a “plug-and-play” solution, but also shorter lease terms, which many find attractive into today’s market.  Also, a fact of which many are unaware is that brokers are compensated by landlords so retaining a broker is a win-win for a company looking to lease space.

For more information about Charlene and Choyce Peterson, we encourage you to listen to episode four of the Real Estate Roundup.