Market Reports

Rhode Island — The Land of Hotels, Schools and Medical Properties

by Kristin Harlow May 22, 2019

Thus far in 2019, much of the growth and development in Rhode Island has been focused on downtown Providence. Much of this has to do with the colleges and hospitals, as well as the residential component in general. But Rhode Island continues to develop hotels, especially in downtown, due in part simply to having a vibrant, in-demand city. Officials want to create the ability for Providence to compete for and attract top-tier conventions. Hotel Development Wave With 1,000-plus hotel rooms coming on line over the next 18 to 24 months, along with another 1,000 residential units of new and redeveloped housing, the long sought-after downtown Providence residential market seems to be here. Examples of this hotel development include the following: • Procaccianti Group’s 176 room Marriott Residence Inn at the Convention Center, coming in the second half of 2019; • First Bristol & Paolino Properties’ 120-room Homewood Suites Extended Stay, which opened in April; • Hotel Beatrice, 28-32 Kennedy Plaza, 48 rooms, under construction; • Best Western Glo Hotel, 322 Washington Street, 76 rooms, commission/board review approved; • Aloft hotel, Innovation Complex, 170 rooms, commission/board review approved; • Holiday Inn, 371 Pine Street, 91 rooms, commission/board review approved; • Hotel …

May 22, 2019

Market Reports Retail Texas Texas Market Reports

McAllen’s Retail Rents Hold Flat as Occupancy Reaches Record Mark

by Taylor Williams May 21, 2019

Despite the fact that demand for retail space in McAllen is at an all-time high, average asking rents are not rising at rates that preclude new users from entering and expanding within the market. According to the McAllen Chamber of Commerce, the retail occupancy rate currently stands at just under 95 percent. The user base is balanced between big box home furnishing and service tenants, neighborhood retailers providing essential services, entertainment concepts and both national and regional food and beverage users. As one might imagine in a market with 95 percent occupancy, there is considerable new development underway. And while rents, which currently max out at about $24 per square foot for new Class A product, have displayed a steady ascent, they also stand at levels that allow for both users and landlords to comfortably turn profits. Most retail real estate professionals in McAllen live in fear of being overbuilt. And indeed, there is new product of all varieties — freestanding, strip centers, power centers — coming out of the ground. A prominent example of new retail development lies in Shops at 29, a power center anchored by Dave & Buster’s and leased to other large-format users like Burlington and …

May 21, 2019

Industrial Market Reports Southeast Southeast Market Reports Tennessee

Strong 2018 Re-Establishes Memphis’ Status as ‘America’s Distribution Center’

by Alex Tostado May 20, 2019

Memphis continued its record-setting ways throughout 2018. Absorption was higher than 2017 by over 735,000 square feet for a total of 6.7 million square feet. Overall vacancy rates fell below 6 percent for the first time in recent history. As of Jan. 1, 2019, vacancy rates were at 5.8 percent. One would think this would come at the expense of rental rates, however, rental rates stayed constant at $2.77 per square foot until year-end. This represents a slight increase of 10 cents per square foot over 2017. With an industrial market exceeding 270 million square feet, it’s no wonder how Memphis got its name as “America’s Distribution Center.” Memphis International Airport is the second largest cargo airport in the world, home to 400 trucking companies, the third busiest trucking corridor (Interstate 40 to Little Rock), one of only four cities to be served by five long-haul Class 1 rail systems, the fourth largest inland port and the second largest stillwater port. Home to the FedEx World Hub, as well as UPS and USPS hubs all operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a week, Memphis provides the most cost-effective distribution and logistics operations in the country. While Memphis has been …

May 20, 2019

Market Reports Multifamily Texas Texas Market Reports

Strong Leasing, Low Deliveries to Define McAllen Multifamily Market in 2019

by Taylor Williams May 17, 2019

Relative to past cycles, the multifamily market of the McAllen-Edinburg-Mission metro area has seen a record number of new deliveries of Class A product over the last four years. The metro’s population has grown significantly during the current economic expansion. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of the city of McAllen alone has increased by 9.5 percent over the past decade. Combined with a relatively low cost of living throughout the region, the market’s natural growth has prompted greater demand for multifamily product while also allowing more residents to gravitate to higher-quality housing. With demand rising over the last few years and developers adding record volumes of new supply in order to meet it, 2019 purports to be a year in which developers focus more on leasing up existing projects rather than greenlighting or breaking ground on new ones. To better understand the depth of supply additions to this market between over the last four years, consider fluctuations in the vacancy rate. Vacancy Movement In 2014, just before the building boom began, the market had a vacancy rate of 5.5 percent. At the peak of the construction cycle, which occurred in mid-2017, vacancy stood close to 14.5 percent. …

May 17, 2019

Terminal-Logistics-Center-Queens-New-York

Industrial Market Reports Northeast Northeast Market Reports

More Industrial Product Lands Near Airports

by Taylor Williams May 17, 2019

The U.S. industrial market has now recorded more than 240 million square feet of net absorption for four consecutive years, the strongest run on record, with an all-time high of 284.9 million square feet in 2018, according to Cushman & Wakefield. In New York City, the largest consumer market in the United States, the current industrial supply of approximately 170 million square feet remains heavily constrained, especially around the region’s transportation hubs. Nowhere is the demand for industrial product more apparent than in the area surrounding John F. Kennedy Airport in Queens, which handles more than 1.3 million tons of air freight every year, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. JFK is the second busiest air cargo airport on the East Coast behind Miami International Airport and just ahead of Newark International Airport. “There’s really not a lot of land near JFK,” says David Hercman, director of asset management at Long Island-based Milvado Property Group. “So, whatever supply is there is there.” Time-sensitive industrial users like freight forwarders, which organize shipments from manufacturers or producers overseas, need to be close to the airport in order to get products to the end user as quickly as …

May 17, 2019

Market Reports New Jersey Northeast Northeast Market Reports Office

The Silver Lining of the Amazon HQ2 Outcome in Northern New Jersey

by Taylor Williams May 16, 2019

Despite the heartache from losing the bid for Amazon’s second headquarters, New Jersey is undoubtedly in a more competitive position than it was before the selection process began. The exercise of responding to Amazon’s request for proposals showcased many of New Jersey’s strengths, such as its talented labor pool, access to higher education and vast transportation infrastructure. As we now know, these assets weren’t enough to secure the Amazon campus, leaving state officials and business leaders motivated to work on those areas identified as falling short. But that doesn’t take away from what the state offers both corporate occupiers and institutional investors. To start, building owners are increasingly investing significant capital to improve and expand New Jersey’s aging supply of office properties. This is music to a tenant’s ears and, as a result, the office market continued its streak of growing occupancy with 302,577 square feet of positive absorption in the fourth quarter, according to Transwestern. Where many of the new leases were signed, landlords committed to substantial capital improvement programs. For the past several years, the best lease-up success stories have come from owners that upgraded their properties to current standards and added amenities preferred by today’s dynamic workforce. …

May 16, 2019

Market Reports Midwest Midwest Market Reports Retail Wisconsin

Creativity, Flexibility Are Paramount in Milwaukee’s Retail Market

by Kristin Harlow May 16, 2019

Milwaukee, a city known for beer, motorcycles and baseball, is currently in a position of shifting from what was once perceived as the normal retail marketplace into the new age of retail. This type of retail is ever-changing and has a deeper focus on experiential activities and artisanal food. These two words, “experiential” and “artisanal,” are frequently being used to describe where the retail landscape is heading. Online competitors, as well as changing consumer preferences, are driving out the traditional department store models and forcing retailers to adapt to this way of life or suffer struggling sales and inevitable store closures. Adaptive reuse The story of traditional retail being dead due to online retailers’ entrances into different market segments continues to invade publications throughout the country. While there may be some truth to that for certain retailers such as Toys ‘R’ Us, Babies ‘R’ Us, Shopko, Bon-Ton and Payless ShoeSource, an argument can be made that it was also their inability to adapt in the marketplace that led to their demise. These store closures affected numerous markets throughout the country and Milwaukee was no different in seeing several of these retailers close multiple locations across the metro area, leaving landlords …

May 16, 2019

Market Reports New York Northeast Northeast Market Reports Retail

Long Island Serves as Launchpad for New Retail Concepts

by Kristin Harlow May 15, 2019

Long Island represents one of the most sought-after suburban retail markets in the Northeast. It’s almost guaranteed that when a retailer opens on Long Island — especially concepts centered on fast-casual dining, boutique fitness experiences and specialized beauty services — it becomes a top performer in the chain’s overall portfolio. Service-oriented retailers are quickly replacing concepts cannibalized by online shopping and are proving to be wildly successful in this important market. With an average household income that trends higher than the national average, a dense population — 2.8 million people live in Nassau and Suffolk counties — and a highly educated consumer base, high-profile national chains recognize the value of having a presence on Long Island. The daytime population swells in areas around shopping centers, hospitals and medical districts, as well as office corridors, while new multifamily and mixed-use developments promise to bring increased foot traffic to retailers seeking a presence on Long Island. Additionally, suburban downtown areas are making resurgences thanks to relaxed zoning restrictions. As the areas around real estate hotbeds like the Route 110 office corridor in Farmingdale, New York, and the Roosevelt Field trade area continue to evolve, new retail centers and mixed-use campuses are emerging. …

May 15, 2019

Industrial Market Reports Texas Texas Market Reports

McAllen Industrial Market Sees Greater Diversity Among Users

by Taylor Williams May 14, 2019

The agriculture industry, long an economic staple of the Rio Grande Valley (RGV), has been at the forefront of the region’s industrial expansion and is seeing its role elevated with more product coming from Mexico. Over the last several years, road and bridge infrastructure improvements throughout Mexico’s southwestern regions have laid the groundwork for increased traffic of produce-carrying trucks headed northeast to the border area. Ports of entry throughout the RGV have become the top destinations for agricultural imports, surpassing the longtime leader of Nogales, Ariz. This has heightened cross-border trade activity throughout the South Texas ports of entry. Most notably, the Pharr, Texas, port of entry has increased the most in terms of activity, which has led to greater absorption and development of industrial product throughout the McAllen metro area. The prime example of this infrastructural development is the Baluarte Bicentennial Bridge. The 3,700-foot, cable-stayed bridge opened in 2013, connecting the Mexican coastal city of Mazatlan to the inland port of Durango and shortening delivery times for product en route to the U.S. border by four to six hours. As a result, a significant amount of the new industrial development in recent years has centered on cold storage facilities. …

May 14, 2019

Market Reports Retail Southeast Southeast Market Reports Tennessee

Memphis Retail has Momentum With New Developments, Retailers, Restaurants

by Alex Tostado May 13, 2019

In January, during his annual State of the State address, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland emphatically exclaimed, “Memphis has momentum!” Memphis, the biggest little town in America, is definitely in a period of unparalleled economic growth. Memphis has momentum on its side with the $10 billion, nine-year expansion at St. Jude Hospital and an infusion of hospitality that includes a new convention center and no fewer than 17 new hotels, which all started, will start or will be completed in downtown in 2019. Additionally, $4 billion in building permits have been awarded in the last few months with another $5 billion planned by developers. Most importantly, the highly anticipated Memphis 3.0 plan — the first comprehensive growth strategy for the city in 30 years — will ensure growth is sustained for many years to come. What are others saying about Memphis? Many respected publications are putting Memphis back on the map. Food & Wine put Memphis in its top 50 places to go and eat in 2019. Frommer’s Travel named the city the best place to visit in 2019. TravelChannel.com lists Memphis as the hottest Southern destination in 2019. And Forbes stakes Memphis as the best bet for real estate investments. …

May 13, 2019

Newer Posts

Older Posts