Market Reports

Kansas City’s Industrial Market Shows Record Absorption in 2017

by Kristin Harlow January 11, 2018

Over the last five years, Kansas City has seen a flurry of activity in the industrial sector. Since 2012, we have seen approximately 22.7 million square feet of new Class A industrial space hit the market, with speculative development and build-to-suits. Considering that Kansas City had only about 14 million square feet of Class A industrial space prior to 2012, these additions have had a huge impact on our marketplace. Prior to big box speculative development in Kansas City, it was hard to land large users due to lack of available product. These users did not have the time to wait for build-to-suit projects to be completed, so if product wasn’t readily available, they would move on to a different market. As a result, developers began to introduce speculative buildings, meeting this demand for new Class A product. Kansas City has thus emerged as a major player competing for larger users and their requirements. This year alone we have seen record absorption numbers and are not showing any major signs of slowing down anytime soon. The two major drivers that are taking this space are e-commerce and logistics users. The new demand for larger spaces has increased the average size …

January 11, 2018

Market Reports Midwest Midwest Market Reports Missouri Retail

Mixed-Use Projects Breathe New Life Into Kansas City Retail Market

by Kristin Harlow January 4, 2018

The overall Kansas City retail market remains very healthy and active. As retailers continue to navigate through e-commerce challenges, developers continue to get creative with the redevelopment of existing centers, adding mixed-use components and consolidation of big box vacancies. Restaurants and hospitality seem to be catalysts in helping to kick-start these redevelopments from the retail side. Over the past year, retail spending in Kansas City has continued to increase, but there remains a limited amount of speculative construction in the market. Therefore, the vacancy rate has dropped from 6.2 percent in 2016 to 5.7 percent as of the third quarter of 2017. The average rental rate has increased from $12.85 to $13.05 per square foot as of the third quarter. Solid job creation from major employers like Cerner and Garmin has helped the unemployment rate of 3.7 percent stay below the national average of 4.1 percent. The restaurant sector is in the process of evolving just as the retail sector is. We are seeing a lot of the major chains slowly shuttering locations where the larger footprint is no longer viable. These properties are getting backfilled fairly quickly by retailers and smaller local restaurant groups. Retail investors have stayed active. …

January 4, 2018

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St. Louis Industrial Market Is a Force to Be Reckoned With

by Kristin Harlow September 28, 2017

The St. Louis industrial market has enjoyed robust growth in recent years in part because of a growing economy, the rise of e-commerce and 3PL activity, favorable tax incentives and abatement packages and a movement to quality from existing users. With a population of 37.5 million in a 300-mile radius and over 96 million in a 500-mile radius, St. Louis is a distribution force to be reckoned with. Over the past five years, vacancy has dropped from 9 percent to 4.1 percent as of the second quarter of 2017. This number, paired with asking lease rates rising 9 percent during that same time frame, illustrate the health of the market. With more than 2.7 million square feet of space absorbed already this year, the 4.2 million square feet currently under construction will be absorbed quickly. Low vacancies have spurred the need for speculative space, which has increased at a rate not seen before in this market. Recent ongoing or completed projects include a 548,850-square-foot space at Aviator Business Park, 158,000 square feet at Fenton Logistics Park and two 100,000-square-foot buildings at Hazelwood Logistics Center. Having spec product on the market places St. Louis on the radars of users that require …

September 28, 2017

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National Retail Tenants Enter, Expand Into Kansas City Market

by Kristin Harlow September 21, 2017

The greater Kansas City area retail market remains solid as a rock, despite CoStar Group’s mid-year report showing a slight decline in the average asking rental rate and a slight increase in vacancy. The retail vacancy rate in the second quarter of 2017 stood at 5.7 percent, up slightly from the previous quarter’s 5.5 percent. The average asking rental rate for retail is $13.05 per square foot, down from $13.07 in the previous quarter. Local, regional and national restaurant chains continue to expand with strong success throughout all areas of the Kansas City market, and “new-to-market” users continue to open their doors. Currently, there is approximately 570,000 square feet of retail space under construction in the Kansas City area and various mixed-use projects under development. Additionally, several new shopping center projects have recently been announced and are quickly gaining traction with restaurant and retail users. One of the major catalysts for the widespread retail and mixed-use boom throughout greater Kansas City is the various incentives that have been made available to developers including tax increment financing, community improvement districts, transportation development districts, tax abatement and other incentives. On both sides of the state line, as sites become more expensive and …

September 21, 2017

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Myriad Factors Help Explain Why Kansas City Office Market Has Not Reached Full Altitude

by Kristin Harlow September 14, 2017

The Kansas City office market is poised for increasing rental rates and decreasing vacancy rates for the remainder of 2017 and into 2018. Kansas City has realized its 14th consecutive quarter of increased rental rates (through March 2017), while vacancy has decreased in the overall metro area due to lack of new office construction and a steady pace of absorption. Several factors contribute to the complexity of why the market is good but not great, steady but not dynamic, with no one factor driving the steady upward climb. It has been like a plane taking off but never reaching full altitude. A contradiction of sorts is contributing to the rental rate increases and vacancy decline, while there is still a lack of newly constructed space. Bread-and-butter leasing absorption and a lack of new speculative development have been the main ingredients in the overall solid market for office activity. The velocity in the market is doing its job of generating positive absorption each quarter while rates inch up. The lack of large blocks of space has created a few new construction projects, but not as many as experts had predicted and hoped for. Costs on the rise Higher construction costs and …

September 14, 2017

Market Reports Midwest Midwest Market Reports Missouri Office

Dramatic Rise in Tech Jobs Propels Growth in St. Louis Office Market

by Kristin Harlow August 24, 2017

Rapid growth in the tech sector is dramatically impacting the St. Louis office market. The city boasted an increase of 6,220 high-tech jobs during the last four years, over 2,000 of which were generated in the past year alone. Given the total number of tech jobs in St. Louis is 57,300, this amounts to a healthy growth rate of 10.9 percent. From well-known companies like Square Inc., Yurbuds and Answers.com to newer ones such as LockerDome, Aisle411 Inc. and MediBeacon Inc., the St. Louis region is a growing hot spot for innovative, new and expanding companies. These companies include leaders in the areas of plant and life sciences as well as financial services, information technology, advanced manufacturing and even rapidly growing pet care industries. Significant healthcare and biotechnology institutions in the region include Pfizer, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Solae Co. and Sigma-Aldrich. As capital injections slow in the coastal markets, St. Louis’ startup scene is thriving, attracting talent, new companies and investors from across the globe. According to Forbes, the city was named the fastest-growing metropolis for startups in 2016. Analytical website fivethirtyeight.com reaffirmed St. Louis’ increased appetite for startups, attributing the uptick in part to a combination of …

August 24, 2017

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Specialty Practices Drive Growth in Kansas City Medical Office Market

by Kristin Harlow July 27, 2017

Kansas City is in the midst of an aggressive expansion of capital investment in medical office space that is consistent with national activity. A variety of factors drive these developments, including patients’ expectations for medical care, a change in how large-scale healthcare operators view their networks and the growth of specialty practitioners. The evolution of medical space created by these forces leads to an entirely new development approach. The most obvious evidence of this change in the Kansas City market is located along the Interstate 435 corridor between State Line Road and Metcalf Avenue. Every major healthcare operator in the metro area either has an established presence there, is in the midst of an expansion project, or both. Within that area, the new medical office building for St. Luke’s Health System at Mission Farms was completed in the second half of 2016. Further west, the 76,000-square-foot Quad Six medical office building, located at 6650 W. 110th St., delivered in June of this year. To the south, at 159th Street and Antioch Road, the first phase of the BluHawk project recently delivered for Shawnee Mission Health – Overland Park. The project includes a 75,000-square-foot medical office building, along with a separate …

July 27, 2017

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Vibrant Economy Underpins Healthy Apartment Market in Kansas City

by Kristin Harlow January 26, 2017

Without a doubt, 2016 was a year to remember for the Kansas City apartment market. Employers, builders, operators and investors all had an eye on the flourishing metropolitan area and contributed to its ongoing strength, leading to a 20-year high for apartment occupancy. But in order to assess if 2017 will be as fruitful, a review of how each of these groups fared in 2016 and an analysis of the current economic climate should be taken into account. Employers A healthy economy underscored by an active employment market generates a cyclical effect whereby employers seek talent, talent seeks housing, and developers seek residents. According to Moody’s Analytics, total nonfarm payroll employment in the Kansas City metropolitan area in 2016 expanded by 1.5 percent following a 1.3 percent increase in 2015. Virgin Mobile USA, to name one active area employer, relocated its corporate headquarters from Warren, N.J., to downtown Kansas City as part of the company’s re-launch of its new brand under Sprint. The long-term location for the new headquarters is undetermined, but temporarily at least 50 new employees now work out of the One Kansas City Place building at 12th and Main streets. By year-end 2017, Berkadia Research projects total …

January 26, 2017

Market Reports Midwest Midwest Market Reports Missouri Retail

Strong Retail Absorption Jump-Starts Development Activity in Metro Kansas City

by Kristin Harlow January 19, 2017

Nearly all of Kansas City is seeing a significant increase in retail and restaurant construction, with many new development projects now coming to fruition. Several of these new construction projects incorporate apartments and other types of entertainment, office or residential space above first-floor retail. Propelled by the recent opening of the streetcar and new apartment complexes across the city, retail in downtown Kansas City received a lot of leasing attention in 2016, according to CoStar Group. “More people are moving downtown for walkability and a taste of urban living, so retail positioned near the streetcar route or on the ground level of apartment buildings could see more demand,” wrote CoStar in its third-quarter overview of the Kansas City retail market. “In the area running from River Market down to Country Club Plaza, as much space leased in the first three quarters of 2016 as did in all of 2015.” Meanwhile, we are experiencing a number of projects where the traditional, older enclosed malls and retail strip centers are being torn down and redeveloped as mixed-use properties across the Kansas City retail market. Standout submarkets, corridors Annual deliveries in greater Kansas City averaged just over 1 million square feet per year …

January 19, 2017

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Office, Multifamily Sectors Lead Expansive Growth in Clayton Submarket of St. Louis

by Kristin Harlow January 12, 2017

An influx of new workers and residents is expected in the Clayton submarket of St. Louis thanks to more than $630 million in office, residential and mixed-use development that is in the planning stages or currently under way. Health insurer Centene Corp. has announced that it will build a new 16-acre, $450 million campus expansion on the east edge of downtown Clayton at Hanley Road, Forsyth Boulevard and Carondelet Plaza. The project, set to break ground early this year, stands to effectively shift the center of Clayton while adding a mixed-use, Class A office-anchored business and lifestyle development to the submarket. Delivery of the 500,000-square-foot Phase I tower is set for late 2019. At the opposite end of the submarket, Koman Group expects to break ground on its proposed 330,000-square-foot, 14-story office and retail project, situated at the corner of Forsyth and Brentwood boulevards. Just across the street is another $68 million, 233,000-square-foot office project likely to begin in 2018. Proposed by Jared Novelly and Apogee Associates, the project would bring the total proposed office development to a robust 1 million square feet of new Class A space in downtown Clayton. As the premier office submarket in St. Louis, Clayton …

January 12, 2017

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