Data Center Projects Buoy NJ Market

mountaintechctr

Telx and Automated Logic leased space in the Mountain Tech Center in Clifton, NJ.

Data center leasing deals helped the New Jersey office market remain stable in 2008, according to data from Colliers Houston & Co., which showed the state's vacancy rate remaining stable at about 13 percent.

The last several months of 2008 saw an uptick in leases by data center tenants, including several substantial deals at the Mountain Technology Center in Clifton, where both Telx and  Automated Logic leased space.

It's been a big year for data center development in New Jersey. In northern counties, Switch and Data (SDXC) opened its large new data center in North Bergen, and Equinix (EQIX) began making plans to build out the next phase of its NY4 facility in Secaucus. In central New Jersey, Digital Realty Trust (DLR) bought properties in Piscataway and Franklin Township for conversion to data center use, while Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley made plans for new data centers in Bridgewater and Franklin, respectively.

"Data center development leads to hundreds of construction jobs and full-time employment for New Jersey residents," Caren Franzini, CEO of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, told Globe Street. "This is great news for New Jersey, particularly during these tough economic times."