New report charts broad regional recovery

In 2Q, the seven counties of the lower Hudson Valley ”“ those counties south of Columbia and Greene and north of the Bronx ”“ witnessed a 1.4 percent uptick in employment, besting 2Q of 2012 by 0.1 percent.

The farther south toward Westchester, the better the news. But even Ulster and Sullivan counties registered gains in jobs and office rent.

The data arrived in the first “Quarterly Economic Report” published in concert by commercial real estate company Jones Lang LaSalle and the Hudson Valley Economic Development Corp.

In Westchester, employment grew 1.8 percent and in Rockland upward job movement was 2.2 percent, according to the report.

The number of office users throughout the seven counties of the Hudson Valley Economic Development Corp. (HVEDC) ”“ Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Dutchess, Putnam, Sullivan and Ulster ”“ was up 0.4 percent, a slowdown from 2Q 2012 when the number was 1.4 percent.

Under the “news of note” heading, the newsletter said the region continues to experience personnel reductions owing to IBM”™s regional contraction. The American arm of Varta Battery, headquartered in Rye, and the coming 130,000-square-foot Bloomberg L.P. data center in Orangeburg are offered as positive counterpoints, though neither approaches the scale of IBM. Varta employs 20 in Rye.

In the technology arena, the report cited advances in the biotech sector via a $9.5 million Chinese company”™s investment in Yonkers-based ContraFect Corp. and the addition of 400 jobs at Elmsford-based Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. And in the village of Montgomery in Orange County, United Natural Foods Inc., a national healthy food distributor, plans to build a new shipping center with the assistance of the HVEDC.

The HVEDC also has quickly helped establish a 3-D printing company on the SUNY New Paltz campus to take advantage of Gov. Andrew Cuomo”™s recently enacted tax-free zones, which are centered on college campuses.

The newsletter breaks down job growth into four subsets by county.

Westchester County in the last year created 5,837 jobs, mostly in professional and business services, education and health care. Office vacancies declined from 18.5 percent to 17 percent. The asking price per square foot of office space went from $25.74 to $26.09.

Rockland and Orange counties created 2,776 jobs, mostly in education, health care, trade, transportation and utilities. Office vacancies went up from 13.9 percent to 14.2 percent. Office space went from $21.67 to $21.79 per square foot.

Dutchess and Putnam counties added 726 jobs, most of them in leisure, hospitality and construction. Office vacancy rates declined from 22.8 percent to 14.1 percent. Office space rent declined from $19.97 to $19.21 per square foot.

Sullivan and Ulster counties added 662 jobs, mostly in trade, transportation, utilities, leisure and hospitality. Office vacancy increased 1 percent, to 25.4 percent. Office space jumped from $12.37 per square foot to $15.62.