Market Reports

Uptick in Speculative Development Bodes Well for Tenants in St. Louis Office Market

by Kristin Harlow January 18, 2018

Welcome to St. Louis, Missouri. Home to nine Fortune 500 companies and the 11-time world champion St. Louis Cardinals franchise. St. Louis currently lays claim to nearly 3 million residents in the metropolitan statistical area and has exemplified economic stability and consistent growth since the Great Recession. Herein we’ll explore one key indicator of the economic health of the region: the slow but steady growth of the St. Louis office market. Demand drivers With approximately 136 million square feet of space, St. Louis is one of the largest office markets in the Midwest, and it is getting larger. Increased demand in the local office market has been predominantly driven by job growth and the consistent decrease in unemployment since its high mark of 10.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009. As of November 2017, the region’s unemployment rate is down to a healthy 3.3 percent, compared to a national average of 4.1 percent. Consequently, this demand for office space has resulted in decreased vacancy, increased rental rates and, ultimately, new construction. At the end of the third quarter of 2017, the vacancy rate was 7.6 percent, down from 8.7 percent in 2016. Average asking rental rates were up to …

January 18, 2018

Market Reports Retail Southeast Southeast Market Reports Virginia

National Retail Trends of Grocery Expansion, Backfilling Vacant Stores Evident in Hampton Roads

by John Nelson January 15, 2018

December of this year will mark the 30th anniversary of the movie “Wall Street” and the introduction of the antihero, Gordon Gekko. In that movie, Gordon delivers the iconic “Greed is Good” speech to the shareholders of a besieged paper company. While things in the end did not turn out well for Gekko due in large part to his greed, the undertones of that speech are uncontentious: Performance and adaptation will come about when there are strong incentives to evolve. The evolutionary spirit of retail real estate is taking shape here in Hampton Roads and great things are happening. Grocers Take Battle Positions The Hampton Roads grocery industry has evolved over the years in large part due to fierce competition from Aldi and Lidl. These two German-based competitors will collectively bring over 20 new locations to the region, and bring with them a new no-frills experience with staple grocery items at a lower price point. Additional grocer announcements in the market include the first Wegmans that committed to a site near Town Center of Virginia Beach, Kroger’s four new developments throughout the region (although a recent freeze in capital projects have stalled those) and Walmart’s recently opened store in Virginia …

January 15, 2018

Industrial Market Reports Texas Texas Market Reports

Houston Industrial Market Has Come to Reflect City’s Economic Diversity

by Taylor Williams January 12, 2018

The resiliency of Houston’s industrial real estate market is truly astounding. Outsiders have always considered Houston to be an “oil town” whose economic success is tied to the geopolitical intricacies of the international energy markets. Yet three years into the oil and gas downturn, Houston has proven that it has a truly diversified economic base. The city’s industrial real estate market has consequently enjoyed a disproportionate benefit of that concerted effort to establish a truly balanced economy. From 2009 to 2014, while the national economy sputtered along due to anti-business policies of the Obama administration, Houston enjoyed a countercyclical economic boon as all sectors of the oil and gas industry added jobs, increased investment and drove demand for oil service-related real estate. Manufacturers and distributors made significant real estate commitments to property and equipment as they worked to meet the demand for materials and services related to the growth in domestic shale exploration and production. When the music stopped in November 2014, outsiders and pundits threw their hands in the air, called it the end of Houston’s growth story and declared that it would be the 1980s all over again. Houston real estate veterans, however, trusted the diversified economy and …

January 12, 2018

Industrial Market Reports Midwest Midwest Market Reports Missouri

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

Industrial Maine Market Reports Northeast Northeast Market Reports

Speculative Industrial Development Picks Up in Southern Maine

by Taylor Williams January 10, 2018

In Southern Maine, we have an inventory problem. An inventory shortage, that is. During the recovery, there has been a steady flight to quality in all sectors including office, retail and, most strikingly, the industrial market. For the seventh consecutive year, the Greater Portland industrial market vacancy rate has dropped. We are now hovering close to a 2 percent total vacancy, which is grossly inhibiting end-users and growth. Throughout 2017, we worked with buyers and tenants that struggle to find suitable relocation and growth opportunities. Multiple offers and off-market sales have become commonplace, which frustrates end-users. We are coaching our clients to remain patient, flexible and communicative in this fluid and competitive market. Accordingly, the limited inventory drastically increased both lease rates and sales pricing for industrial style space. Sale price trends, in particular, deserve a closer look. In 2011, at the tail end of the recession, Class A and B industrial buildings were selling in the $40-per-square-foot range. Sales were almost exclusively going to owner-user businesses who were bullish enough to bet the economy would turn. Today, those businesses are competing with a smaller inventory pool, and against investors looking to diversify their portfolios. Quality industrial buildings are now …

January 10, 2018

District of Columbia Market Reports Office Southeast Southeast Market Reports

D.C. Region Sees More Development as Tenants Seek Efficient, Amenity-Rich Office Space

by John Nelson January 8, 2018

On the surface, the Washington, D.C., metropolitan office market has shown little change over the past five years. But dig a little deeper, and some interesting trends emerge. Metro D.C.’s office market totaled 377 million square feet as of the third quarter of 2017 and recorded a vacancy rate of just under 15 percent — inclusive of sublease space — and cumulative net absorption of 600,000 square feet year-to-date. The market has demonstrated little change in major market indicators over the last five years. Notably, three of the last five years (2012 to 2016) recorded negative absorption on a regionwide basis — averaging 82,000 square feet annually. Overall vacancy levels have thus far been held in check in part due to vacant buildings being removed from inventory for renovation and retrofitting or for conversion from office to other uses such as schools and residential. Nevertheless, core submarkets and micro-markets are benefitting from occupancy growth and rental rate increases, with tenants demonstrating a decided preference for amenity-rich areas. Tenant Preferences Regionally, the office segment is characterized by flight to quality and tenant-leaning leasing conditions. Tenants continue to favor efficient space design. They’re relying more heavily on building amenities such as conference …

January 8, 2018

Data Centers Industrial Market Reports Texas Texas Market Reports

Data Centers Double Down on Size

by Taylor Williams January 5, 2018

Demand for data center space stems from a variety of sources. The vast majority of companies across most industries have some sort of web presence, and their customer and employee records and information are stored electronically. At the same time on the consumer side, smartphones and tablet devices are all but ubiquitous, their owners constantly upping their usage of apps and social media platforms. Nonprofit communications firm CTIA tracks aggregate wireless data usage across the country on an annual basis. The Washington, D.C.-based company found that in 2013, Americans used approximately 3.2 trillion megabytes of data. By 2015, a year in which there were about 228 million smartphones and 41 million tablet devices in circulation, that figure had increased threefold to 9.6 trillion megabytes. By 2016, a year in which there were more than 261 million smartphones in circulation, wireless data usage had exceeded 13.7 trillion megabytes. That total represents more than 35 times the volume of data traffic recorded in 2010, according to CTIA’s website. Web presences, records storage and electronic communications — not to mention the ever-expanding role of e-commerce in retail today — each contribute marginally to the growing demand for data center space. However, when combined …

January 5, 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

Maine Market Reports Northeast Northeast Market Reports Office

Downtown Portland, Maine, Class A Office Market Remains Tight

by Taylor Williams January 3, 2018

As 2018 begins, it appears that the Greater Portland office market has continued to hold on to low vacancy rates as supply remains low across both Class A and Class B buildings throughout the market. CBRE/The Boulos Co is conducting its annual market outlook; it will be exciting to see the results, which we release in January. I anticipate the numbers to show a steady or slight decrease in vacancy rates across all submarkets but also show a much lower absorption rate, as momentum has appeared to slow down over the last 18 months. Transaction volume is trending far lower than in previous years and could possibly be the lowest number of transactions in the last seven years. However, there were a number a relatively large transactions completed over the last six months that will have a larger impact on the overall vacancy rate than simple transact ion volume. And we must consider that the small number of leases signed could also be due in part to limited supply. The Downtown Portland Class A office market, in particular, continues to operate at historically low vacancy rates. Over the last five years, there has been a steady decline in Class A …

January 3, 2018

Market Reports Retail Texas Texas Market Reports

Grocery, Home Goods Sales Rising in Houston

by Taylor Williams December 29, 2017

After Hurricane Harvey made landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast, the storm’s impacts on commercial real estate were most immediately felt in the single- and multifamily spaces. As the recovery effort got underway, it became clear that some office buildings had been damaged, driving down occupancy in that sector, while demand for industrial materials and space rose. Perhaps because retail occupancy in Houston — which most recently clocked in at 94.6 percent, according to CoStar Group — has been strong throughout the oil downturn, or because most store closures stemmed from employees being unable to get to work, the storm’s impacts on the retail sector have been somewhat trickier to measure. Whatever the case, nearly four months after the storm, retailers in certain industries are seeing their sales figures climb dramatically, and without help from the holiday shopping rush. Grocers Lead the Way The grocery business — a form of brick-and-mortar retail thought to be somewhat insulated from e-commerce — has been at the forefront of retail segments seeing an uptick in sales following Harvey. Residents experiencing power outages and damaged refrigerators generated healthy and immediate demand for groceries. “Grocers were particularly impacted by Harvey, and in the aftermath it …

December 29, 2017

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