The speaker is Stanley Simon, CEO of Newmark JGT of New Jersey,the firm that resulted from the merger earlier this year of Newmark& Co. and Jacobson, Goldfarb & Tanzman. "The market hasbeen dichotomized into direct and sublet space," Simon tellsGlobeSt.com. "The majority of the sublet space is in Central NewJersey, which is home to a number of companies that have shed spaceto cut costs. For the most part, these companies are concentratedin the communication, financial and dot-com industries."

In terms of numbers in the 11 counties tracked by Newmark JGT,the market had a negative absorption of almost 7.8 million sf atthe end of the third quarter of last year. Overall asking officesrents had stabilized at $24 per sf gross, mostly because of theincrease in sublet space in class A buildings. The overallavailable office space was just over 30.2 million sf, with 21.75million being direct and the rest sublet.

"Essentially, landlords who are well positioned with money andlow vacancies are still less flexible than the subletting tenant,"according to Simon. "Subleasing presents a number of options -terms can be short or long, and options may be assumable. Thelandlord may write a new lease if the tenant's credit is good.Also, furniture, technology and tenant improvements may be inplace, and occupancy can be immediate. Finally, most locations arein 'A' buildings."