The St. Louis industrial market is in the midst of historic development and deal making. As witnessed in many markets, “big bombers” — industrial facilities 500,000 square feet and larger — are coming out of the ground at a record pace. Better still, they are being leased and pre-leased at a record pace. By all accounts, the driver here is the new e-commerce phenomenon with major players like Amazon taking nearly 1.5 million square feet in the Metro East submarket. The two major developments in this submarket are Gateway Commerce Center, developed by TriStar, and the adjacent Lakeview Commerce Center, developed by Panattoni. In addition to Amazon, Gateway Commerce Center boosts a host of big box users such as P&G, Unilever and Saddle Creek Corp, the latter of which took 673,137 square feet last year at the Center. Tri-Star is in the process of completing two additional buildings in the Center: Gateway East 520 containing 520,000 square feet, and Gateway East 624 containing 624,000 square feet. In neighboring Lakeview Commerce Center, Amazon occupies additional space along with World Wide Technologies, occupying 769,500 square feet in the Center. Analyzing the data Let’s drill down further and let the numbers speak for …
Market Reports
Though there was a slight decline in Las Vegas’ overall industrial market activity in the first half of 2016, the remainder of the year will finish strong as the region continues to see significant expansion. Despite aggressive market conditions, demand continued to outpace new supply during the third quarter of this year, while asking rates rose and large distribution centers dominated market activity. Demand for industrial space in the Las Vegas market increased during the third quarter, with 787,582 square feet of net absorption, bringing the total net absorption year-to-date to more than 2 million square feet. New completions totaled 642,571 square feet and vacancy rates decreased to 4.4 percent, the lowest since the first quarter of 2007. The average asking triple-net lease rate climbed to $0.62 per square foot, per month, the highest since the fourth quarter of 2009. There are currently nine industrial projects under construction throughout the Las Vegas Valley, totaling nearly 4.8 million square feet. New construction activity has been well above the long-term average since 2015, and will continue to outpace historical levels through 2017. The increase in construction activity has largely been fueled by a combination of a lack of available large bulk distribution …
The Reno industrial market continues to grow at a steady pace. Numerous developers are building new speculative warehouse/distribution facilities in many of the submarkets in Reno, Sparks and nearby outlying areas. With an industrial base of more than 80 million square feet and a vacancy rate of 8.2 percent (which continues to recede), the region is experiencing a healthy demand for space ranging from 50,000 square feet (divisibility) up to 150,000 square feet. Demand exceeds supply for product of this size. Current rental rates have steadily pushed upward over the past 18 months. Depending on the location of the business parks and its proximity to Interstate 80, the major east-west trucking artery, or I-580, the quoted asking rental rates range from about $4.20 per square foot, per year, up to $5.04 for the aforementioned divisibility ranges. New speculative Class A industrial product in the Reno market offers 32’ to 36’ clear height, as well as ESFR fire sprinkler technology, state-of-the-art LED high bay lighting, fiber optics communications, cross-dock configurations, ultra-wide column bay spacing and ample trailer parking onsite. Panattoni Development built Red Rock 200, which includes a 750,000-square-foot, built-to-suit fulfillment center for Petco, as well as a 200,000-square-foot speculative distribution …
Kansas City’s central business district (CBD) has received a great deal of media attention over the past two years for good reason. With over 3,000 new residential units delivered, the new KC Streetcar and the national trend of Millennials moving to urban areas, there has been plenty of momentum for the area and much discussion of the “live-work-play” environment. After a long period of decline, the urban core of Kansas City is experiencing a powerful revitalization. In all the excitement surrounding the CBD, however, another trend may be getting overlooked. Through the first three quarters of 2016, absorption in the CBD (the Downtown, Crossroads and Crown Center submarkets) was more or less flat after accounting for the conversion of office space to residential use and a unique listing in the Crown Center complex. Meanwhile, the suburban office market posted 580,000 square feet of positive absorption during the same period. Yes, Kansas City is in the process of rediscovering and reinventing the CBD, but the performance of the suburban market remains strong. Construction Boom The first indicator that tenants are still attracted to key suburban submarkets is the number of recent construction projects. Earlier this year, Burns & McDonnell completed a …
The Orange County apartment market is currently enjoying strong fundamentals that comes from several sources. These include robust renter demand, strong local economy and historic low interest rates, all of which make for a perfect storm. As more renters enter the market due to strong employment numbers, it gives way to new household formation. While home prices in the region escalate, more would-be homebuyers are being priced out of the market and forced to remain in the rental pool, further driving competition for suitable housing and pushing rents to new levels. Orange County developers are responding to a growing demand for new multifamily housing developments, many of which are Class A projects targeting high-end tenant bases and price points. Many older properties, such as Class C or C+ buildings, are enjoying the blow back from these new developments when tenants seek out lower rents when compared to top-tier projects, resulting in robust rent increases. Investors looking to place capital in today’s multifamily market are taking advantage of strong fundamentals and cheap debt. Transaction volume has increased more than 10 percent in the past 12 months, with notable sales volume in the northern end of Orange County. Confident that upward rent …
Commonly referred to as the River Region, Montgomery is the second largest city in Alabama and the state capital. The Montgomery metropolitan area consists of Autauga, Elmore, Lowndes and Montgomery counties. With a population approaching 374,000, the River Region’s diverse economy, skilled workforce, business-friendly climate and Southern charm continue to attract new residents and commercial development. Key industries in the Montgomery metro area include automotive, manufacturing, fabricated metals, plastics, warehousing/distribution and state/regional government. As of June 30, total unit count in the Montgomery market is 6,588 with an average year built of 1997. According to the Axiometrics second-quarter 2016 report for Montgomery, annual effective rent growth has averaged 1.2 percent since the fourth quarter of 1996 with annual effective rent growth forecast to be 0.1 percent for 2016, 1.7 percent in 2017 and an average of 2.6 percent from 2018 to 2020. The Axiometrics report also states the market’s occupancy rate has averaged 92.2 percent since the fourth quarter of 1995. Currently, occupancy in the Montgomery market is 89.6 percent as of second-quarter 2016, which is a slight decrease from 91.1 percent in the first quarter of 2016 and 90.7 percent in second-quarter 2015. Axiometrics projects the market’s occupancy rate …
Cleveland’s relatively affordable cost of living compared with other major Midwestern cities is attracting businesses to the metro area, fueling demand for office space. A steady stream of new employment opportunities supported the 1.6 percent expansion of Cleveland’s workforce over the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30. Hiring during that period was driven by the education and health services sectors, which collectively added 9,300 positions. It is expected that by year-end 2016, Cleveland employers will have increased payrolls 1.3 percent with the addition of 14,000 workers. Office-using employment is expected to rise 0.4 percent this year, remaining steady with only a slight variation over the past three years. Cleveland’s stable economic fundamentals, coupled with businesses attracted to the city, have supported the revival of a dormant development pipeline. During 2015, just 46,000 square feet was added to Cleveland’s office property inventory. The majority of the new office completions are located downtown. In the four-quarter period that ended in September, approximately 660,000 square feet came into service. Construction Surges While office completions were sluggish in 2015, construction has picked up significantly and builders are on track to deliver more than 1 million square feet of new office product by year’s end. …
In the office segment there has been plenty of news regarding Class A assets. Companies have been flocking towards upgraded space. Landlords have made significant capital expenditures to their buildings to attract and retain these tenants. We have seen parking decks being built, investments to achieve LEED certification and the addition of upgraded amenities, such as cafés, fitness facilities, day care centers, and shuttles to mass transit. In the midst of these discussions, the Class B building seems to be getting lost. Class B office buildings do not have all of the bells and whistles of their Class A counterparts. However, this has not stopped them from experiencing a resurgence over the last few years. Current vacancy of Class B office space in the Northern New Jersey market is 13.4 percent. The vacancy rate has seen a steady decline from 15 percent at the end of 2014. The asking rents in the market average around $21.50 based on a gross number. The absorption of space over the last two years has been the best we have seen in more than 10 years. According to CoStar, 1.1 million square feet of Class B office space was leased in Northern New Jersey …
The Orange County office sector continues to see falling vacancy rates, positive net absorption and rising asking rates. Orange County has beaten the U.S. national average for office vacancy since the fourth quarter of 2014. Office vacancy fell to 8.9 percent in the third quarter, down from 9.4 percent in the second quarter and 9.9 percent in the first quarter of 2016. We continue to see positive net absorption to the tune of 626,900 square feet, but that number is down from 730,844 square feet in the second quarter, a difference of 15,044 square feet. Asking rates continue to trend upward from $27.61 per square foot to $27.73 per square foot annually. Class A buildings lead the way, with asking rates averaging $32.89 per square foot. Class B and C buildings come in at $26.28 per square foot and $21.57 per square foot, respectively. These are all good signs for the new development coming to market in 2017. One of the more notable projects to soon come to fruition is 400 Spectrum Center Drive in Irvine. This 466,696-square-foot, Class A office tower is expected to be complete in the third quarter of 2017. This will be the sister tower to …
Louisville is no longer simply a city known for horse races, bourbon and tobacco. It has become a city with a diverse and growing economy with heavy concentrations of medical employment, an international logistics hub and a stable manufacturing base. It has grown to become the dynamic northern edge of the Southeast, and investors from all over the nation are flocking to it. Louisville is an established riverfront city in the Southeast with a growing population, diversification of employment and an attractive multifamily supply/demand balance. The area is home to 12 Fortune 500 companies, three of which are headquartered in the city. The metro is a nationally recognized regional distribution and warehousing hub serving major operations such as Ford Motor Co., General Electric and many others. The city has seen steady job growth since the recession. In fact, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that between July 2010 and July 2016, 80,000 new jobs were created. With a very successful series of major distribution facilities now open and future capital investments in distribution parks planned, Louisville continues to be a hotbed in the logistics industry. Leading this remarkable transformation to a logistics giant is the development and expansion of …