AJOT Spotlights CenterPoint's New York/New Jersey Focus, Development SVP Ronel Borner

CenterPoint’s Senior Vice President of Development Ronel Borner talked with AJOT about our port-proximate development strategy and focus on expanding our New Jersey foothold into New York City and Lehigh Valley, PA.

As global importers continue to seek dynamic supply chain alternatives to U.S. West Coast port congestion, CenterPoint Properties is ambitiously expanding its portfolio of logistically advantaged warehouse and distribution facilities along the East Coast, with a particular focus on the thriving New York/New Jersey market.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Ronel Borner CenterPoint’s senior vice president of development, told AJOT in relating the present vibrant U.S. East Coast industrial real estate development push to his two decades of experience in the sector.

Oak Brook, Illinois-headquartered CenterPoint has thus far invested $1.7 billion to amass an impressive portfolio of 33 properties encompassing 7.5 million square feet of warehouse space in the New York/New Jersey market alone, according to Borner, who is based out of the company’s fast-growing regional office in Saddle Brook, New Jersey.

Port proximity is key

Direct overweight access to big-ship berths is a key attribute of attractive industrial properties, including the CenterPoint at Port Newark development, which is moving forward toward completion in early 2022 on 12.62 acres only 2.1 miles via non-toll roadways from Port of New York & New Jersey container terminals. This immediate proximity translates to the lowest truck drayage costs from Port Newark and Port Elizabeth berths.

The CenterPoint at Port Newark site, located at 49 Rutherford St. in Newark, just off the New Jersey Turnpike, offers a 185,917-square-foot warehouse building boasting a 40-foot clear height and 46 exterior docks while providing parking positions for 83 trailers and 168 cars. Adding to its incentivized appeal, the property is within a New Jersey Urban Enterprise Zone.

Moreover, CenterPoint at Port Newark is ideally situated in the heart of the nation’s leading concentration of affluent consumers, with more than 13.5 million people living within a one-hour drive and with trucks able to reach seven states and Washington, D.C., within five hours. Signage along the adjoining New Jersey Turnpike bodes to offer visibility to nearly 400,000 drivers a day.

Dynamics are ‘booming’

“Dynamics have been booming,” said Borner, who commented that today’s shippers are concentrating more than ever on getting import goods off containerships and off port terminals and into – and flowing out through – warehouses as swiftly and efficiently as possible.

“In critical markets like New York/New Jersey, CenterPoint is meeting such challenges with supply chain solutions our company has perfected over the course of four decades at the leading edge of transportation-centric real estate development,” he said.

“We’re focused strategically on investing in well-located logistics properties near major ports,” Borner said. “Market conditions continue to support our belief that investing in those properties is wise and that they will continue to have significant value in the market well into the future.”

Strategy is extending

Indeed, CenterPoint’s concerted investment strategy is extending southward from New York City and New Jersey along the U.S. East Coast to include port-proximate industrial properties in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

In South Carolina, CenterPoint is actively investing in properties in the area of the Port of Charleston, which is dramatically augmenting its megaship-handling capabilities with this year’s opening of the first new U.S. greenfield container terminal in more than a decade. And the company continues to be instrumental in the growth of the South Carolina Inland Port, along the commerce-rich Interstate 85 corridor, about 200 miles northwest of Charleston docks via rail or highway.

CenterPoint also is augmenting its portfolios around the business-friendly Port of Savannah, the nation’s fastest-growing containerport, and in South Florida, with more than a dozen prime industrial properties near the bustling seaports of PortMiami and Port Everglades, as well as international freight leader Miami International Airport.

Right products, right time

It is easy to see why Borner is so enthusiastic about CenterPoint’s sustained initiative to offer superior warehouse and distribution properties in the shadow of major East Coast transportation hubs.

“Beneficial cargo owners, including those in the burgeoning e-commerce marketplace, are going to continue to find – and rely upon – routes that provide advantageous alternatives to delays and congestion,” he said. “To that end, CenterPoint is maintaining its focus on developing energy-efficient facilities to proficiently meet the present and future supply chain needs of tenants of all sizes.

“I certainly think,” Borner added, “that the projects we are continuing to deliver on the development side are the right products in the right markets at the right time.”

Media

AJOT Spotlights CenterPoint’s New York/New Jersey Focus, Development SVP Ronel Borner

CenterPoint’s Senior Vice President of Development Ronel Borner talked with AJOT about our port-proximate development strategy and focus on expanding our New Jersey foothold into New York City and Lehigh Valley, PA.

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