Long Island's industrial sector is continuing to see leasing momentum pick up, with 1.1 million square feet in activity posted in the first quarter, according to a MarketBeat report from Cushman & Wakefield. This marks the third straight quarter that signings have exceeded one million square feet and the second-strongest quarterly performance over the past three years.
Leasing overall was up by 53.6 percent year-over-year. Almost 65 percent of the activity occurred in either the Central Suffolk or Western Suffolk submarkets.
Gate Gourmet took the top spot for the largest industrial lease in Long Island, with its 63,437-square-foot signing in Western Nassau. Rounding out the top three were Frank Lowe and L&K Distributors, Inc., with 61,916 square feet and 59,299 square feet deals, respectively.
"Additionally, food & beverage, e-commerce, and logistics tenants accounted for 69.3% of the total square footage leased this quarter," Cushman & Wakefield noted in the report.
Vacancy compression also took place, with the rate dropping by 20 basis points from the same period last year to 5.2 percent. Particularly, Nassau County stood out, with its vacancy falling below five percent for the first time since the end of 2024.
Moreover, average asking rents accelerated to $19.15 per square foot— the first time on record that Long Island's industrial sector has seen prices pass the $19 mark.
The one discouraging trend was the 68,869 square feet of negative absorption, which Cushman & Wakefield attributed to "the addition of several large blocks of space" hitting the market.
Then there are the economic trends. Overall unemployment in Long Island increased to 3.5 percent, but it still lags the national average of 4.3 percent. However, the city lost 1,270 industrial jobs quarterly due to the weakness in the manufacturing, trade, transportation and utility sectors.
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