Are Fairfield and Westchester equally healthy?
The pipeline is pretty good in both.
There must be some way of distinguishing one from the other, no?
Believe it or not, they look pretty similar right now. They’re similar in size and we typically do have a little bit more volume in Fairfield, and those tenants might be a bit smaller. It’s a mix of tenants—all over the board.
Do you still foresee a slow and steady recovery for Westchester and Fairfield counties?
A lot of people out there believe that we haven’t really begun to recover yet, but I think if you drill down you do see that there are good signs of recovery. I think the foundations are in place for a good strong recovery. First, there’s been the repurposing of some old, tired inventory and, second, what’s been going on recently with the Tappan Zee Bridge would be a nice boost for Westchester County for sure, and, third, UBS committing to Stamford to create 2,000 jobs—that’s certainly a big boost for Stamford.
And the unemployment rates—I believe it’s 8.3 percent in Fairfield County and 6.5 percent in Westchester County, which is the lowest in the state—so I believe the foundations are in place for us to be turning the corner, and for us to see brighter days ahead.
jsederstrom@observer.com
