Fairfield County Q1 office leasing up 8%

BY PHIL HALL Phall@westfairinc.com

Quarterly leasing activity for Fairfield County’s office market totaled 484,000 square feet during the first quarter of this year, according to new data published by CBRE.

The first quarter’s leasing level was up by 8% from the previous quarter and was 4% ahead of the five-year average. However, year-to-date leasing activity was down by 11% from the same period in 2022.

Within the region’s submarkets, the Stamford Central Business District (CBD) led the county with 139,000 square feet, an accomplishment fueled primarily by the largest single transaction during the first quarter – ICON International’s twofloor lease at 107 Elm St. that encompassed nearly 61,000 square feet. The ICON International transaction accounted for more than 40% of the Stamford CBD’s leasing activity during the first quarter.

The next two largest transactions during the quarter were in the Fairfield East submarket: Transpac’s 41,000-square-foot lease at 120 Corporate Drive in Trumbull and Butler America’s 32,437-square-foot lease renewal at 2 Trap Falls Road in Shelton. CBRE noted that Fairfield East accounted for 124,000 square feet of leasing activity in the quarter, an 88% spike from the previous quarter and 107% above the five-year quarterly average.

Rounding out the top five transactions were a pair of deals in Greenwich: First Republic Bank’s 24,061-square-foot lease at 55 Railroad Ave. in the Greenwich CBD and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide’s 24,027-square-foot lease renewal at 51 Weaver St. in the non-CBD area of the town. The Greenwich CBD saw a total of 52,000 square feet of leas- ing activity in the quarter, up 84% from the previous quarter and 18% above the five-year quarterly average. The non-CBD sector within Greenwich totaled 50,000 square feet, up 128% from the previous quarter and 86% above the five-year quarterly average. The Greenwich nonCBD benefited from Greenwich Hospital’s 16,000-square-foot expansion at 500 West Putnam Ave.

In comparison, Central Fairfield’s generated 100,000 square feet in leasing transactions, down 23% from the previous quarter but 10% above the five-year average. Northern Fairfield trailed the submarkets, with a relatively scant 7,000 square feet of activity for the quarter.

The availability rate for Fairfield County’s office market in the first quarter totaled 273,484 square feet, or 26.7%, a 60 basis points (bps) drop from the previous quarter and 10 bps higher than one year ago.

Three of the seven Fairfield County submarkets reported positive absorption during the quarter: Greenwich CBD (7,000 square feet, or 7%), Greenwich non-CBD (62,000 square feet, or 21%) and Central Fairfield (372,000 square feet, or 28.8% – the lowest level since the second quarter of 2020).

Fairfield County’s asking rent in the first quarter was $36.05, a 2% drop from the previous quarter and 5% higher than the first quarter of 2022. CBRE attributed the quarter-over-quarter dip to the removal of higher-priced office space Greenwich and Wilton.

Fairfield East saw a 6% slide in average rents to $19.08 per square foot – this decline was mostly attributed to repricing across properties along Trumbull’s Merritt Boulevard. Greenwich CBD’s average asking rent was $102.98 per square foot, marking the second consecutive quarter above the $100 level.