Despite a trio of high-profile corporate relocations, Fairfield County’s office market continues to lose ground amid an uptick in subleasing activity.
Direct sublease vacancies account for 1.2 million square feet of vacant space, brokerage Avison Young reported this week. The vacancy rate stood at 16.4 percent at the end of the quarter.
According to Avison Young’s second quarter Office Insight report, effective rents for relocations in class A office space declined 4.6 percent compared with March to $30.53 per square foot.
Investment sales activity also has been declining. Since 2020, just $64 million worth of office transactions have taken place, a decrease of 85 percent from the previous five-year average.
The report does not include data from a trio of corporate headquarters locations to Fairfield County announced by Gov. Ned Lamont in late June.
Philip Morris International said it will move its 200-person headquarters from New York to a yet-unannounced Fairfield County address.
ITT Inc. is relocating from White Plains to 24,000 square feet at 100 Washington Boulevard in Stamford’s Harbor Point, bringing 57 corporate jobs.
And fintech company iCapital Network said it will move its headquarters and 200 jobs from Manhattan to Two Greenwich Plaza.
While Lamont has criticized his predecessor Dannel Malloy’s use of state financial incentives to lure companies to the Nutmeg State, the ITT move was prompted in part by a $2 million state grant. And iCapital could receive $2.94 million in grants from the Department of Economic and Community Development’s “earn-as-you-grow” program if it creates 200 jobs within two years.
“While demand for office space is expected to remain sluggish, prime submarkets such as Stamford and Greenwich are poised to maintain resilience, having benefited from New York City relocations during the height of the pandemic,” Sean Cahill, managing director of Avison Young’s Fairfield County’s office, said in a statement.





