Photo courtesy of Choyce Peterson

John P. Hannigan
Principal, Choyce Peterson Inc.
Industry experience: 37 years

Over nearly three decades, Choyce Peterson has carved out a niche in Fairfield and Westchester counties as a full-service brokerage specializing in office sales and leasing. Principals John P. Hannigan and Alan Peterson developed their skills at Rostenberg-Doern Co., a regional brokerage. After it was acquired, the two Fairfield University graduates decided to found their own firm, which has offices in Norwalk and Rye Brook, New York. Hannigan has completed more than 500 transactions and more than 1 million square feet of office space.

Q: What’s Choyce Peterson’s niche in the local commercial brokerage market?
A: We have three buckets of business. One would be tenant representation, for tenants who renew and relocate and expand and downsize, landlord work, and an investment sales and capital markets group working with sellers and buyers of commercial buildings. The tenant rep and investment sales are growing.

Q: What did the second quarter data tell you about the dominant trends in the Fairfield County office market?
A: Of the largest transactions done in Fairfield County in the second quarter, the majority of the largest ones were renewals, so we are not seeing a tremendous amount of relocations. The market is shrinking, and there are building that are currently part of the inventory that will be sold and converted to other uses within the year or probably the year after. The inventory will shrink. Three towns – Greenwich, Darien and Westport – all have very low vacancy rates and availability rates, and high pricing. Those are markets that are generally smaller buildings and smaller tenants.

Q: What do you foresee as being the highest and best uses for the commercial portion of the Stamford Transportation Center redevelopment?
A: It was very interesting to read how it seems likely they are ready to go and have a revised plan for that station, including knocking it down. I’m intrigued in what the ideas would be and the final outcome. It’s good to study that and figure it out, and I think some combination of residential and office right at that station: it’s sort of like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get this right.

Q: Your firm’s recent market report pointed out several deals that were completed at the Merritt 7 property in Norfolk. What’s the reason they have had leasing momentum?
A: I’ve done several deals there at Merritt 7 and it’s a true class A complex with an abundance of amenities, and great access to the Merritt Parkway and I-95. 101 and 102 Merritt 7 are looking to convert to residential use, and that would take 475,000 square feet of class A space off the market.

Q: What effect is the Federal Reserve’s decision to hold interest rates steady had on the market?
A: There is not an abundance of buildings for sale, so owners seem to be holding on. Conversely, there is a tremendous appetite to buy buildings. I would say there’s been a general hesitance over the past couple of years to wait for the interest rates to drop so the value of their buildings rise.

Q: Has the concern over tariffs’ impact on the economy moderated in recent weeks?
A: Every tenant that is leasing space has a lease expiration date, and that’s the trigger. At least 12 months before, they have to start making decisions and so far, the tariff conversation hasn’t entered the leasing discussions to date.

Q: Local sublease listings are now the lowest level of the decade, but how is that distributed on a submarket basis?
A: It’s very interesting that the subleases were close to an all-time high in the last couple of years, and they are trending toward an all-time low. And the reason is the subleases expired and the space generally went back to the landlord, so it’s still listed, but it’s changed from sublease to direct. In Greenwich, the percentage of available space that is sublease is 1 percent. In Stamford, it’s 3.6 percent and in Norwalk it’s 1.8 percent. What’s astonishing about Westport is that 6.2 percent is available for sublease, which is greater than the direct available space.

Q: Does Choyce Peterson have any plans to add new services or expand into new property sectors?
A: We are sticking with our core business units, and we’re quite successful in each.