Flex-warehouse firm ReadySpaces has inked a 116,000-square-foot lease at an industrial building in Jamaica.
The company will occupy a portion of a 620,000-square-foot property on a 3.5-acre lot owned by New Jersey-based private equity real estate firm KABR.
Just like WeWork does with offices, ReadySpaces partitions its warehouses and industrial buildings into smaller units — ranging from 250 to 5,000 square feet — for its clients to use on more flexible terms than traditional leases allow.
The company, led by co-founders John Zimmerman and Kevin Petrovic, has been growing its footprint in New York City and beyond by purchasing or signing long-term leases for large Class B and C warehouses.
ReadySpaces has 36 North America locations spanning about 3.8 million square feet. The recent lease at 184-10 to 184-60 Jamaica Avenue marks its second location in Queens and its sixth in the New York metropolitan area.
The company will occupy combined space in part of the lower level, ground floor, and fourth and fifth floors of the building. The asking rent was $25 per square foot.
Colliers brokers Richard Warshauer and Mike Davis represented ReadySpaces. Joseph Lagano and Reid Berch of Avison Young, Joseph Hentze Jr. of Cushman & Wakefield and Frank Liggio represented KABR.
ReadySpaces expects customers to use the facility for small-scale e-commerce, specialty importing and exporting businesses, service companies and contractors, Petrovic said.
The building’s access to highways and transit sets it apart from the company’s other Queens building, according to Petrovic. The property is located near the E,J, M and Z subway lines, John F. Kennedy International Airport and several major highways.
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ReadySpaces, founded in 2013, grew quickly after the onset of the pandemic as more retailers sought warehouses to accommodate their e-commerce needs. The so-called Great Resignation also fueled the company’s growth because more individuals opted to become small business owners, Zimmerman and Petrovic previously told The Real Deal.
But industrial leasing may be returning to normal after the pandemic boom. The U.S. industrial vacancy rate has increased for five consecutive quarters, surpassing 5 percent for the first time since the first quarter of 2021. New supply hit a record high in the third quarter and demand has steadily decreased, according to data from Colliers.
Petrovic said there is still demand for industrial space but there is less speculative and emergency demand than during the pandemic, when companies stockpiled inventory so shipping delays wouldn’t exhaust it.
KABR did not immediately respond to a phone call.