For industrial developers and owners, Kansas City is an easy sales pitch right now. “Two years ago, we had to scrounge around [for capital partners] trying to get phone calls returned. Now, they’re calling us saying they’re ready to see what we’ve got,” said Nick Cook, a development manager with Panattoni Development Co. “You’re always trying to sell a story to these folks. And Kansas City is a pretty easy one to sell right now. When it comes to speculative development, we’re feeling bullish.” Cook’s remarks came during the developers, owners and investors panel at the InterFace Kansas City Industrial conference, which took place Tuesday, Aug. 18 at the Intercontinental Kansas City at the Plaza. Robert Ciston, a senior principal with BRR Architecture, moderated the discussion. Editor’s note: InterFace Conference Group, a division of France Media Inc., produces networking and educational conferences for commercial real estate executives. To sign up for email announcements about specific events, visit www.interfaceconferencegroup.com/subscribe. Fellow panelist Grant Harrison, executive vice president of development with VanTrust Real Estate, also expressed a bullish mindset on Kansas City and said he wants to get in front of the next wave of development. In contrast, there are some markets where Harrison does not …
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By Taylor Williams New development within the Houston industrial market is increasingly skewing toward data centers and advanced manufacturing projects, creating new hurdles for architectural, engineering and contracting (AEC) teams to overcome in terms of labor and timing. At the annual InterFace Houston Industrial conference that took place in late August at The Briar Club and was attended by more than 200 industry professionals, Jason Cooper, president at Houston-based general contractor Arch-Con Corp., immediately cited both of these issues when asked about the biggest challenges the industry faces today. Braylie Manson, business development associate in the Houston office of Texas-based engineering firm Dunaway, moderated the conference’s design and construction panel. “The most difficult thing of the past year, excluding the past month or so, has been getting highly qualified subcontractors on board that can keep the schedules that are expected,” said Cooper. “Schedules keep accelerating; we have to turn these projects over faster and faster, so [as general contractors], we have to be very selective about which subcontractors we use to avoid delays.” Editor’s note: InterFace Conference Group, a division of France Media Inc., produces networking and educational conferences for commercial real estate executives. To sign up for email announcements about …
Richmond’s retail market continues to be one of the bright spots in commercial real estate, and it’s not difficult to understand why. While many markets across the country are still working through elevated vacancies and changing consumer habits, Richmond continues to benefit from steady population growth, a diverse economy and a retail inventory that remains remarkably full. Retailers continue to expand here. Investors continue to buy here. And perhaps most importantly, consumers continue to support both national brands and local businesses in a meaningful way. The result is a market that feels healthy, active and well-positioned for future growth. Quality space is hard to find If there’s one thing everyone in can agree on today, it’s that quality retail space is increasingly difficult to find in Richmond. Vacancy throughout the region remains exceptionally low, particularly in established corridors, hovering at around 3.6 percent in the second quarter. Areas like Short Pump, Midlothian and many neighborhood shopping center locations continue to operate with very little available inventory, creating a competitive environment for retailers looking to enter the market or expand existing operations. This has caused rents to continue to trend upward, leaving the landlord with the upper hand. The interesting part …
By Maria Gutierrez, senior communications specialist, Colliers Engineering & Design Whether it pertains to acquiring sites, designing improvements or developing a residential or commercial property in Texas, land terminology can quickly become confusing. Two terms that are commonly mistaken, and often used interchangeably, are survey and plat. “In this field, people often use these terms synonymously, but they fulfill completely different steps in the development process,” notes San Antonio-based Corey Campbell, RPLS, geographic discipline leader for survey and geospatial at Colliers Engineering & Design. “A survey gathers and documents the physical facts about the land on the ground, while a plat uses those facts to legally define how that land is divided and recorded for the future.” Because an approved plat depends entirely on accurate site data, a comprehensive title survey is almost always the required first step. Navigating that transition from survey to recorded plat requires a complete end-to-end strategy. That is where Kelly Kephart, senior project manager and Texas platting director for survey and geospatial services at Colliers Engineering & Design, spends her time. Based in Houston and with 26 years of experience and over 1,000 completed plats, Kephart helps developers clear regulatory hurdles and manage the entire …
For years, Richmond occupied an interesting position in the Mid-Atlantic multifamily landscape: large enough to attract institutional capital, but often overshadowed by bigger markets such as Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia. That is changing. Richmond has moved considerably higher on investors’ target lists over the past several years, initially propelled by the migration patterns that emerged during the pandemic. People flocked to Richmond for its relatively affordable housing and quality of life. While that migration isn’t occurring at COVID-era levels today, those fundamentals remain. Increasingly, investors are recognizing that Richmond offers something particularly valuable in the current environment: attractive yield in a market where pricing has not necessarily caught up with the underlying fundamentals. Fundamentals hold up Richmond’s multifamily market is absorbing a meaningful amount of new supply while continuing to generate rent growth. Effective rents reached $1,658 at midyear, representing 4.1 percent growth, while occupancy stood at approximately 94 percent, according to Pyxis. The market absorbed 2,733 units over the previous 12 months, according to research from CoStar Group. Those numbers are particularly noteworthy given the recent construction cycle. Nearly 7,000 units were completed during the past 12 months. Another 5,736 are expected during the coming year, according to …
By Taylor Williams In terms of both ground-up construction and expansions and redevelopments of existing properties, retail development in the greater Houston area is pretty healthy by today’s standards, which is to say that meaningful supply gains in major markets are relatively rare in 2026. But the numbers are working in Houston, where sources say that brick-and-mortar sales are strong enough to support the rents that justify new development. Yet at the same time, margins remain thin on both the tenant and landlord sides, and owners are still very much focused on finding creative ways to manage development and operating costs lest they lose that precious, hard-fought cushion. “There’s a ton of new development around the horn, with projects in Katy, Fulshear, Tomball, Magnolia, Baytown and [New Caney’s] Valley Ranch, and those deals are penciling because retailers are keeping up with rents,” said Kenneth Katz, co-founder and principal at Houston-based brokerage firm Baker Katz. His comments were delivered at the annual InterFace Houston Retail & Mixed-Use conference at the Houston Briar Club on Aug. 25., which was attended by more than 200 industry professionals. Editor’s note: InterFace Conference Group, a division of France Media Inc., produces networking and educational conferences for commercial …
If there is one thing I have learned over the past year, it’s that retail buyers have not left Orlando. They have become more selective, and that selectivity is exposing the real issue in the market: there are not enough high-quality retail properties available for sale in the trade areas investors want most. Inventory remains near all-time lows throughout Central Florida, especially in established trade areas with strong demographics, excellent visibility and limited opportunities for new development. As a result, buyer demand continues to outpace the number of available opportunities. Orlando remains one of the strongest retail markets in the country, supported by healthy consumer spending, positive net absorption and a limited construction pipeline that continues to give investors confidence. For owners, this creates an important window. Properties with strong locations, durable tenancy and a clear growth story are standing out because buyers have fewer comparable alternatives to pursue. In this market, quality does not just protect value; it creates competition. One of the biggest changes I have noticed over the past few years is how buyers evaluate opportunities. A few years ago, investors moved much faster. Today, they spend more time underwriting acquisitions, reviewing lease structures and understanding the …
By Scott Olson As I look back over the last 12 months since my August 2025 Cedar Rapids update, the resilience of this city to adapt despite high interest rates, tariffs and a Middle East conflict is second to none. Our city council priorities have remained unchanged: • Housing options and affordability • Strengthen and stabilize neighborhoods • Clean and safe city • Recreational and cultural amenities • Homelessness • Flood control system The economic growth highlighted in this report is matched by city efforts in all the priority areas. Our current national rankings reflect these successes: • No. 3 Best Place to Live in the Midwest (SpaceWise, 2026) • No. 3 City with the Most Affordable Rent (WalletHub, 2026) • No. 5 Midwest City for a Peaceful Retirement (lnvestopedia, 2026) • No. 11 Most Affordable Small City to Buy a Home (WalletHub, 2026) • No. 16 Best City to Buy a House in America (Niche.com, 2026) • No. 19 Safest City in Americas (WalletHub, 2026) — ranked across key dimensions, including home and community safety and natural disaster risk and financial safety • No. 22 Best Run City in the U.S. (WalletHub, 2025) • No. 30 City with the …
By Taylor Williams The Texas industrial market could use a little ABS. The acronym, which stands for automated ball-strike system, has been a — wait for it — game-changer in 2026 for Major League Baseball, the innings of which are often invoked as metaphors for points in real estate cycles. The ABS system establishes a clear, objective picture of the strike zone that eliminates doubt among players, managers and umpires about whether a pitch is a ball or a strike. Like any good sports technology, the system provides clarity on the rules of engagement, which leads to better operational execution. It’s been a — wait for it again — big hit for the game. Efficiency in real estate development and investment similarly hinges on data that is governed by universally accepted frameworks. While there is always the hopeful possibility of stumbling upon a hidden indicator, most real estate investors and operators are inter-reliant on themselves — in the form of industry comps — and their established metrics to understand where they are in a given cycle. There is room for disagreement, but only to a certain extent. With regard to industrial real estate in Texas, what is essentially indisputable is …
When it comes to Florida’s industrial real estate market, Orlando is often viewed as a single, high-growth distribution and operations hub. For those of us on the ground, however, the more important story is that the market is no longer moving uniformly. According to Colliers’ market reports for the second quarter of 2026, the Central Florida market reached approximately 253.6 million square feet of industrial and flex inventory, while industrial vacancy improved to 7.4 percent from 7.5 percent in the first quarter. Those figures point to stable fundamentals overall; however, the reality is that demand is becoming more concentrated in well-connected submarkets with established infrastructure and modern industrial inventory. This shift is most visible among owner-users and tenants seeking less than 100,000 square feet. For these companies, location affects labor access, delivery times and operating costs. Large regional distribution users still evaluate sites through a broader logistics lens, often considering service radiuses of 200 to 400 miles, while smaller and midsized occupiers place greater weight on immediate connectivity. Southeast Orange County Southeast Orange County remains Orlando’s strongest industrial submarket because of its transportation connectivity, established infrastructure and concentration of modern industrial space. Southeast Orange County recorded 240,815 square feet of …
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