Market Reports

By George Pofok, Cushman & Wakefield | CRESCO Real Estate The Northeast Ohio market has consistently been a stable industrial hub, and over the last couple years, has been attracting the interest of investors and developers from other regions. Spanning approximately 527 million square feet, this market stretches from Cleveland down I-77 to include Akron-Canton.  In the second quarter of 2024, the overall vacancy rate decreased to 2.8 percent, driven by 1.1 million square feet of positive direct absorption, a strong recovery from the negative absorption in the first quarter. Over the past few years, the vacancy rate has remained between 2.4 and 3 percent.  Leasing activity kicked off the year robustly, with 4 million square feet of leases in the first quarter. However, it normalized in the second quarter, with 1.6 million square feet leased, which was slightly below the usual pace. The market is expected to remain stagnant due to limited inventory and a lack of new speculative construction starts, which continue to hinder demand from local and regional tenants seeking to expand and backfill spaces.  Leasing deals are trending longer, between five to 10 years, with annual rental rate increases averaging 3 to 4 percent. Meanwhile, the …

By Dan Wendorf, JLL The industrial landscape in Columbus is not just thriving — it’s breaking records. As highlighted in JLL’s fourth-quarter 2023 Columbus Industrial Insights Report, 2023 marked another milestone year for the market. With over 19 million square feet under construction and surpassing 2022’s nearly 7 million-square-foot total, Columbus has solidified its position as a national industrial hub.  The report also showed total vacancy increased 3.8 percent year over year due to 15.7 million square feet of speculative completions, which finished the year at 30 percent leased. Although a modest uptick, Columbus continues to diversify its industrial scene from exclusively being known as once a “logistics and parcel delivery hub” to now being recognized for its growth in advanced manufacturing and data centers.  As exemplified by investments from Facebook, Google and Meta, the market has evolved into a multifaceted industrial powerhouse. In particular, investments in microchip factories have stimulated the need for additional warehousing from suppliers, and this trend is expected to continue in the coming year. This article explores how Columbus has become a key player in industrial development, factors motivating businesses to move their operations to central Ohio and what’s in the pipeline to keep an …

By Beau Taggart, Cushman & Wakefield Historically, Columbus was a steady-performing, secondary industrial market that saw minimal rent increases. Often, it was overshadowed by “big brother” cities such as Indianapolis and Chicago that were perceived as more appealing to institutional investors. After the great recession of 2008, though, Columbus began to mature economically, and the region began its meteoric rise as a leading big-box industrial market in the U.S. Located at the intersection of Interstates 70 and 71, within a day’s drive of 46 percent of the U.S. population and containing one of the only freight-only airports in the country, Rickenbacker Airport, Columbus began to attract more and more major retailers such as Zulily, Lululemon, Macy’s and Sam’s Club as well as e-commerce giant Amazon, which has opened several bulk facilities throughout the region. Additionally, three major intermodal terminals and major UPS and FedEx hubs strategically located throughout the area boosted Columbus from its secondary status to a primary inland hub on every major distributor’s radar.  Like many markets, 2021 was Columbus’s most prolific year. Interest rates were at an all-time low, and users were compensating for COVID-fueled consumer demand. Asking rates grew by 14 percent and vacancy shot down …