The Raleigh/Durham industrial market finished 2011 with substantially increased activity within the warehouse sector. Capital markets activity continues to be particularly strong for Class A institutional grade product, and leasing velocity seems to be finding its legs. The increased volume of deal flow is likely to set the stage for continued improvement through 2012. Investment sales activity has been particularly robust during the past 18 months with more than 3.1 million square feet of institutional grade industrial space trading hands for more than $209 million in value. Cap rates for institutional grade product in the Raleigh-Durham market have fallen significantly since the credit crisis in 2008, but have begun to level off in the low 7 percent range. Duke Realty has been the most active buyer of industrial product in the region. Since September of last year, it has acquired nearly 1 million square feet in three transactions totaling $61.4 million, and is now the largest owner of institutional industrial space in the market. Most notable was its acquisition of the Greenfield North portfolio in Garner, North Carolina, for $31 million. Through this acquisition, Duke has virtually cornered the fast growing East Wake market for Class A warehouse space. Leasing …
Market Reports
Raleigh salutes 2011 as a year of improvement and we welcome 2012 with great optimism. In September of last year, Raleigh received Bloomberg Businessweek’s “No. 1 American City” accolade, which is a measure of the “all-around excellence” of a region. The NCSU Index of North Carolina Leading Economic Indicators, a forecast of the economy’s direction four to six months ahead, rose in October, the first gain in the Index since June. All of the North Carolina-based components of the Index improved, with the leader being a 31 percent jump in building permits, according to Michael Walden, distinguished professor of economics at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. As the economy continues to improve and jobs increase, absorption will take additional existing vacant space. The cities of Raleigh, Cary, Chapel Hill and Durham make up 98 percent of the 76 million square feet of office inventory in the Triangle area. With 461,119 square feet of absorption year-to-date in the third quarter of 2011, the market remains positive. Owner-occupant companies had a major effect on positive absorption. In the third quarter, nine of the 12 submarkets showed positive absorption and decreased vacancy rate over the previous quarter. Wachovia contributed to the negative …
During the last 12 months, the Raleigh/Durham apartment market has continued to maintain a lofty appeal in the eyes of local, regional and institutional investors. The fundamentals of the region, including its growth projections, the diversity of employment and the driving force that is created by three major research universities, has continued to offer good reasons for investors to inject capital into the Raleigh/Durham apartment market. After a slow start in 2010, many developers have set their eyes on taking advantage of the reduced development pipeline that was a casualty of the recession. The institutions as well as local and regional developers with strong balance sheets were those that were in the best position to take advantage of being the first to break ground. After just a few developments started in 2010, the number of new construction starts and new developments in the planning stages during 2011 has exponentially increased. However, number of new apartment units added to the market in 2011 will be the lowest in recent memory. Part of the reason for this increase in development activity is that the investment sales market has been so strong in the Raleigh/Durham marketplace, arguably as strong or stronger than any …
The Raleigh/Durham retail market consists of approximately 41 million square feet and serves a population of about 1.75 million people. Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill comprise the “Research Triangle” metropolitan region, which is continuously ranked among the best areas in the nation to live and work. The retail market has an overall low vacancy rate and remains relatively healthy despite the lingering recession. A period of remarkable growth has slowed and only a handful of new developments opened in 2011. These include Park West Village, a 373,748 square feet power center located in Morrisville at Highway 54 and Cary Parkway, and the 57,511-square-foot Market at Colonnade, a shopping center anchored by Whole Foods and located on Six Forks Road in north Raleigh. Another notable project is the renovation of the 200,000-square-foot Waverly Place in Cary. Few new development opportunities are expected in the near future and positive absorption of vacancy for anchor and shop space has been encouraging, as centers have continued to strengthen albeit at lower rental rates. Job growth drivers are simply not there to support the rapid retail growth the area experienced prior to the recession. Trends in the marketplace include expansion of discount chains such as …
The retail market in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill MSA (“The Triangle”) is steadily improving. Retail vacancy dropped to 8.39 percent within the Triangle as of the third quarter — the result approximately 525,000 square feet in absorption over the past 12 months. Investors and retailers alike continue to be attracted to the region because of its sustainable economy fueled by the state government, Research Triangle Park and the University system. Several new anchor retailers entered the Triangle market during 2010, absorbing the majority of available boxes abandoned by Circuit City and Linens ‘N Things. Nordstrom Rack filled the former Linens ‘N Things space at CBL’s Renaissance Center at Southpoint in Durham; Ollie’s Bargain Outlet opened at York Properties’ Cary Village Square in Cary; The Container Storemade its Triangle debut in the former Circuit City location on Glenwood Avenue across from Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh; and buybuy BABY opened its first Triangle location at Kimco’s New Hope Commons in Durham. Only a small amount of new retail development was completed in 2010. Kane Realty delivered the only anchored retail project at North Hills East, which is situated at Six Forks Road and Interstate 440 — Raleigh’s “Beltline”. Anchored by Harris Teeter …
In the stifling heat of August, the Charlotte office market seemed stagnant and weak. According to Jones Lang LaSalle, Charlotte lost nearly 13,000 jobs in the first two quarters of this year, pushing the unemployment rate to 12 percent. Year-over-year, second quarter office leasing activity fell 32 percent. To further paint a grim picture, Jones Lang LaSalle predicts that downtown Charlotte is in for a double-digit vacancy rate, due to the 2.5 million square feet of office space that will see completion in the next 18 to 24 months. In reality, the future of the Charlotte office market is much brighter than it looks on paper. “At the street level, a lot of brokers remain pretty busy. There are still deals being done; they’re just taking longer,” says Tim Bahr of Charlotte-based NAI Southern Real Estate. It also happens to be the tail end of vacation season, and everything, commercial real estate included, is a bit more sluggish during the twilight of summer than during the rest of the year. “This time of year is typically slow. With the economy, it just seems like that’s amplified things a bit,” he says. The office spaces that are frequently being occupied in …
In the stifling heat of August, the Charlotte office market seemed stagnant and weak. According to Jones Lang LaSalle, Charlotte lost nearly 13,000 jobs in the first two quarters of this year, pushing the unemployment rate to 12 percent. Year-over-year, second quarter office leasing activity fell 32 percent. To further paint a grim picture, Jones Lang LaSalle predicts that downtown Charlotte is in for a double-digit vacancy rate, due to the 2.5 million square feet of office space that will see completion in the next 18 to 24 months. In reality, the future of the Charlotte office market is much brighter than it looks on paper. “At the street level, a lot of brokers remain pretty busy. There are still deals being done; they’re just taking longer,” says Tim Bahr of Charlotte-based NAI Southern Real Estate. It’s also happens to be the tail end of vacation season, and everything, commercial real estate included, is a bit more sluggish during the twilight of summer than during the rest of the year. “This time of year is typically slow, and with the economy, it just seems like that’s amplified things a bit,” he says. The office spaces that are frequently being occupied …
Howard Bissell of The Bissell Cos. sums his take on the Charlotte office market by echoing a concern voiced by developers all across the country. In nearly every major market and in a vast array of property types, developers are hurting because of rampant economic uncertainty. Tenants and investors simply don’t know what’s next, so they aren’t making any moves. “There’s a lot of concern over the unknown,” Bissell says. “Depending on where you are in the Charlotte market, you can point to slow downs in the velocity of leasing. What we started seeing last year has just accelerated into 2009.” For developers like Bissell, the main concern in Charlotte isn’t that the office market has slowed, but that it’s taken a rapid course downward, a quick pace that nobody quite anticipated. Tenants are on the sidelines looking in. Bissell has had to put two of his developments on hold due to the recession. “We’re out there trying to capture every deal that we can, so long as it makes sense,” he says, noting that he foresees pursuing deals more aggressively in the next year. At the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, Jeff Edge takes a brighter point of view toward …
The Charlotte industrial market has continued to weather the global economic storm with relative stability. Experts in the market believe this is by design and is not just good fortune. A disciplined development community that did not over-build the city is the foundation for the stability. The market size for institutional grade industrial product in Charlotte is approximately 30 million square feet. The entire market is well more than 100 million square feet, which comprises user-occupied and manufacturing product that institutional investors are not trading day-to-day. With 3.3 million square feet available, the institutional market stands at 11 percent vacant. Given the gloomy economic news that we have all grown accustomed to hearing, an 11 percent vacancy rate is not particularly unhealthy. The key statistic is this: in a 30 million-square-foot market, only 250,000 square feet is being constructed, representing less than 1 percent of the market. In addition, only 1.7 million square feet of product is in the planning stages, with no assurances that it will go vertical in the near future. If all 1.7 million square feet of product were to be built — which won’t happen — it would represent a 5.7 percent increase in inventory. There …
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