The parent of off-price chains T.J. Maxx and Marshalls will be the first tenant at a large industrial park being built in the New Jersey Meadowlands, with the retailer set to occupy 1.3 million square feet in one of the nation's biggest logistics leases signed last year.

TJX Companies, based in Framingham, Massachusetts, will be coming to Buildings A and B at 3000 Valley Brook Ave. at Kingsland Meadowlands. That industrial park, being built by Russo Development of Carlstadt, New Jersey, and Forsgate Industrial Partners of Teterboro, New Jersey, has been in the works for nearly a decade and is slated for a 718-acre site that spans Lyndhurst, Rutherford and North Arlington. It is planned to have 3 million square feet when completed.

The TJX lease was cited by NAI James E. Hanson in its 2023 fourth-quarter industrial report on North Jersey, which was released Monday. TJX — parent of not only T.J. Maxx and Marshalls but also HomeGoods, Homesense and Sierra — didn't respond to a phone call from CoStar News seeking comment. Russo and Forsgate didn't respond to emails seeking comment.

But the lease was apparently the biggest industrial lease in New Jersey last year and, according to Adrian Ponsen, director of U.S. industrial analytics for CoStar Group, ranks among the top 20 largest industrial leases nationally in 2023. The biggest U.S. industrial lease was inked by Conair for 2.14 million square feet at 10440 Downsville Pike in Hagerstown, Maryland, Ponsen said.

In New Jersey, behind TJX in size last year, Maersk signed an industrial lease for 939,918 square feet in Burlington Township, according to Mateusz Wnek, associate director of market analytics for CoStar. That lease was followed by luxury goods conglomerate LVMH — parent of Louis Vuitton, Moët & Chandon, Tiffany & Co., Christian Dior, Fendi, Givenchy, Marc Jacobs, Stella McCartney, Loewe, Loro Piana, Kenzo, Celine, Sephora, Princess Yachts, TAG Heuer and Bulgari — committing to 886,826 square feet in Cranbury. It was followed close behind was digital tech firm DMI, which leased 845,078 square feet in Hamilton Township, according to Wnek.

The industrial market nationally has lost some steam since the pandemic, when online sales helped jump-start demand for distribution and warehouse space. The sector has remained relatively strong in the Garden State, which is an ideal location for industrial facilities because of its proximity to major airports and seaports and its location within a densely populated region. But North Jersey's industrial vacancy rate rose slightly last year, to 4.7% from 2.2% in 2022, because of the impact of the large supply of new inventory that went on the market, James Delmonte, NAI James E. Hanson vice president and director of research, told CoStar News.

"There's still demand out there," Delmonte said. "The market's still tight."

CoStar data pegs the industrial vacancy rate in Northern New Jersey at 4.3%.

"As 2024 approaches, Northern New Jersey's industrial market is being challenged on two fronts, with historic amounts of project completions outpacing occupiers' space needs," CoStar said in a recent report. "This year has marked a significant turning point in fundamentals, with tenant move-outs outpacing move-ins to the tune of 1.1 million [square feet] during the past 12 months."

But "despite an elevated pipeline in absolute terms, Northern New Jersey construction activity represents just 1% of existing inventory," CoStar said. "From a national standpoint, that is one of the lowest figures among industrial markets with inventories of at least 100 million [square feet]."

TJX has been a winner in a period of high inflation when shoppers are looking for bargains to stretch their dollars. And the retailer is in an expansion mode, after debuting 125 new stores last year. As an off-price retailer, TJX's chains sell branded or designer items to consumers at much lower prices than traditional stores. TJX, which operates in nine countries, has 1,305 T.J. Maxx, 1,190 Marshalls, 907 HomeGoods, 83 Sierra, and 49 Homesense stores in the United States.

TJX's largest warehouse now is a 1.7 million-square-foot T.J. Maxx facility at 11650 Fm 1937 in San Antonio, according to CoStar data. It's followed in size by a 1.2 million-square-foot Marshalls distribution center at 5501 SE Lower Buckeye Ave. in Phoenix. TJX's industrial portfolio also includes about five distribution centers that are about 1 million square feet each, as well as some smaller ones.

Kingsland Meadowlands is slated for a tract that is made up of former landfills that have been remediated. Sections of the property were part of the failed $1 billion development undertaken by EnCap Golf Holdings of Florida more than a decade ago. That project, which was to include luxury housing, golf courses and hotels, fell through when the company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2008 after spending more than $50 million of a promised $100 million in public financing.

Russo and Forsgate in June 2015 had the winning bid to purchase the Kingsland site from the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, and in June 2019 they closed on their $42.5 million purchase of the tract. The two family-owned developers started the project on speculation, without having any tenants committed to any of the space.

The developers broke ground in October 2019, with plans to include up to six buildings, with the ability to deliver a single building totaling more than 1.2 million square feet.