In recent years, the fundamentals in Charlotte’s industrial real estate market have continued to improve. Overall, the market can be characterized by an increase in tenant activity and the emergence of new submarkets more active on the development front than in the past. Tenant growth can be attributed to organic growth from users expanding, velocity of new deals, as well as emerging submarkets within the market. Charlotte’s central location near the transportation arteries of I-77 and I-85 continues to make the city’s industrial space very attractive to logistics and distribution companies. Charlotte is growing by approximately 20,000 residents per year, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The population growth, coupled with the trend of brick-and-mortar retailers transitioning portions of their business to e-commerce, makes for a positive outlook on Charlotte’s industrial fundamentals. The strongest tenant activity is in the 25,000- to 75,000-square-foot range, with tenants looking to upgrade the quality and functionality of their space. Beginning in fourth-quarter 2015 and continuing into first-quarter 2016, there was noticeable activity among tenants relocating from owner-occupied facilities to leased spaces. This trend has been driven by a limited supply of options for purchase, historically high construction prices and a steady economy. Furthermore, the …
Look no further than Kansas City for one of the most burgeoning apartment rental hotspots in the Heartland. Ever since apartment deliveries reached a trough of 233 units in 2011, developers have ramped up construction activity year after year to meet healthy rental demand, though often still trailing robust leasing activity. This trend continued in the first half of 2016, with 2,170 newly occupied apartments exceeding 1,650 multifamily units added to the metro area inventory. What’s contributing to this demand? And will rapid market growth and expansion continue? Job growth, tech boom Employment gains are a big reason rental market demand continues to outweigh supply. For the last six years, greater Kansas City has experienced annual average employment gains of 1.5 percent to support sustained rental demand. After steady, though moderate gains in the last half of 2015, employers accelerated hiring with 10,500 additions from January to June, a 1 percent expansion over the previous six months. The six-month hires capped an annual increase of 1.5 percent since mid-2015 with 15,900 new personnel. To no surprise, the rise in employment has coincided with the rise in renters, as they’ve been attracted to new inventory around employment hubs. The Downtown/East Kansas …
New York City’s retail outlook is sunny, as steady labor market expansion — bolstered by substantial Fortune 500 hiring — has spurred retailer demand for existing and new spaces in all five boroughs. Strong retail property performance in the City That Never Sleeps has supported continued rent and price growth, which will result in higher sales velocity over the short- and mid-terms. Employment Gains, Tourism Underlie Performance During the first six months of 2016, New York City employers created 33,600 new jobs. This pronounced job growth, which has been characteristic of the current cycle, reduced the unemployment rate to 5 percent by the end of the first quarter. This is the lowest rate unemployment rate the city has seen since November 2007. By the end of the year, area employers will add 90,000 workers, with the education and health services and professional and business services sectors projected to post the greatest increases. The leisure and hospitality sector will also contribute significantly to employment gains this year, as greater tourism spending prompts organizations in the sector to ramp up hiring. Another important indicator of NYC’s economic health is strong retail sales, which represent one of the best paces of retail spending …
Growth. It is occurring all across the Rio Grande Valley. From the residential sector to the retail development industry, regional statistics indicate there is an overwhelming boom in the Valley. The rise in the region’s population and the increasing number of yearly visits from Mexican nationals, among other factors, are contributing to the boom. The Rio Grande Valley commercial real estate industry has seen steady, consistent growth over the last two years. National retailers looking to incorporate themselves into the local economy or expand their existing business include Main Event Entertainment, Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt, Dave & Busters, Dick’s Sporting Goods, HomeGoods, Chick-fil-A and Walmart. Local and international retailers including Super Cream Restaurant & Bakery, Kurai Sushi Buffet, and Dona Tota are also expanding in the region. Other entities helping to spur growth in the commercial real estate industry are the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) campuses in Edinburg, Harlingen and Brownsville, and a number of large investment retail projects in the upper and mid-valley including the development of the 8,500-seat Bert Ogden Arena in Hidalgo County. Impact of UTRGV The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley is less than two years old and boasts …
From Cleveland to Cincinnati, speculative Class A office development is on the rise in Ohio for the first time in at least five years. Primarily occurring in the suburbs, 3 to 4 million square feet of spec development is driven by a lack of office space as well as pent-up demand for new space with an urban feel that contains retail and multifamily components. Most spec office development reflects the demands of both Millennials and Baby Boomers. These significant population groups seek to locate in live-work-play neighborhoods that offer cool office and residential spaces, walkability and common green spaces. Because these components are important to Millennials — now the largest share of the American workforce — they have become important for companies in their efforts to recruit the best and the brightest. Quality talent is more of a factor than cost. In competing for talent, these companies must look for and include such office amenities as game rooms, outdoor patios and walking trails. Not only are the retail and residential components to an office project important, but companies are also expressing genuine interest in branding, signage opportunities, naming rights and modern amenities. Cost of financing guides developers in Cleveland While downtown …
Last summer, NAI Rio Grande Valley and Michael Uhrbrock, senior vice president of research at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, examined eight Rio Grande Valley cities to examine the history of retail sales between 2002 and 2014 and to forecast the future. The cities examined were McAllen, Brownsville, Harlingen, Edinburg, Pharr, Weslaco, Mission and Mercedes. We were working on a piece for the Rio Grande Valley Partnership’s Economic Development magazine. What we learned is quite interesting and presents an unusual view into the future potential for retail expansion in the Rio Grande Valley. Total retail sales in the eight cities increased $4.47 billion between 2002 and 2014. Forecasting the future required a view of low, median and high ranges of potential sales. Based on the high projections, it is anticipated that valley sales in these cities will increase by $13.68 billion between 2015 and 2030. A number of factors go into the results, but several factors are expected contribute to the expected increases. Growth in Many Sectors With 1,450,000 residents, the population of the Rio Grande Valley today is larger than that of nine states. Forecasts show the population will grow to 2.5 million by 2040, which does …
IndustrialIowaMarket ReportsMidwestMidwest Market ReportsMixed-UseMultifamilyOfficeRetailUncategorized
Sioux City Experiences ‘Crane Craze’ Across Property Types
The skies are dotted with cranes — not the type you would find on route west to the Sandhills of Nebraska, but the type synonymous with a robust economy. It is safe to say there have never been so many cranes at work in the history of Sioux City. Several large industrial projects are resulting in further development of retail and multifamily space that has been in demand for some time in Sioux City. Retail, entertainment wave Helping to draw residents and visitors alike out into the streets of Sioux City is the $130 million Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. The Hard Rock replaced the floating Argosy riverboat casino in a first-in-the-state competitive bidding war for a land-based casino. Due to the popularity of the development since it opened in August 2014, the Hard Rock already has plans to add an $8 million casino expansion by the end of the year. Hard Rock has played a vital role in making Sioux City a regional, cultural and entertainment destination. Dallas-based Anthony Properties is planning to deliver 350,000 square feet of retail space by the summer of 2018. The 64-acre site, located at the intersection of Sunnybrook Drive and Sergeant Road, is …
The Connecticut industrial market has changed. The days of large corporate surplus assets littering our industrial parks, mid-teen vacancy rates and discounted lease rates are over — or at least on a hiatus. In the last few years, the market has tightened with many of the larger blocks of space absorbed by various local and national tenants. The last 20 to 25 years saw corporate consolidations, downsizing and the move to cheaper markets dominate our industrial landscape. Left behind were inefficient, large manufacturing facilities in a market losing its manufacturing base. As time went by, these idle, surplus assets were acquired by local and regional investors who eventually made these properties functional again. Over the years, steady absorption has chipped away at vacancy rates, and quality available product has become increasingly difficult to find for tenants. Traditionally, an industrial tenant needing 100,000 square feet or greater would have numerous alternatives to consider and a wide range of quality too. This gave tenants enormous leverage, allowing them to negotiate more flexible and favorable terms and conditions. The relatively recent shift in tide has allowed landlords to control the process and we’ve seen a corresponding upward tick in lease rates. The sales …
It is impossible to have a discussion about retail commercial real estate without considering the implications of shifting demographics. This is true both nationally and in the Columbia market. The unique demographic characteristics of the local market serve as an explanation for the current situation in retail real estate. The trends in retail real estate in Columbia echo those on that national level, although with the local market’s heavy concentration of Millennials (one of the highest in the Southeast), the opportunity for disproportionately high growth is significant. Those trends involve the sector being the last to emerge from the recession with low levels of retail development on a broad scale, but increasing activity and viability in urban and infill environments, especially for restaurants. Much of the retail activity in the market uniquely caters to that 20 to 34 age demographic. At this stage in their lives, the overwhelming majority of the younger demographic is focused on living in an active lifestyle, preferably in urban environments. This is making the prospect of infill retail, particularly as a component of mixed-use development, more feasible. This is resulting in increasing retail and multifamily development in Columbia’s downtown. For urban retail, there are three …
Fairfield County, Connecticut, which has traditionally been home to many multi-national financial tenants, is transitioning to become one of the most diverse business environments in the region and attracting some of the biggest names from the TAMI (technology, advertising, media and information), creative, engineering and corporate arenas. This shift in the fabric of the business community may be attributed to major investments made by a number of owners to improve and reposition their office properties to meet the demands of this new type of tenant. Owners are virtually creating new tenant experiences in their buildings, with office space boasting technological efficiencies and tenant amenities designed to support a balance between professional and personal needs. The “if you build, he will come,” quote made famous in the movie Field of Dreams is certainly apropos when looking at the trend of newly renovated properties attracting some of the best tenants in the market. A perfect example is the success at Merritt 7, a six-building, 1.4 million-square-foot office complex that recently completed more than 600,000 square feet of new leases — including a recent 133,000-square-foot lease by Datto Inc., one of the fastest- growing information technology firms in the world for its global …