With an increasing number of tenants seeking to relocate to New Jersey from parts of New York City, including Brooklyn and the Bronx, the Garden State’s industrial market is at its healthiest since first-quarter 2008. The amount of vacant space has now reached pre-recession levels, decreasing from 7.5 percent to 7.2 percent during the third quarter of 2015. Moreover, the vacancy rate experienced its best year-over-year improvement since the first quarter of 2014. Strong markets include central New Jersey submarkets Exit 8A, Exit 9/Brunswick, and Route 287 West, while the Meadowlands area remains the strongest submarket in northern New Jersey, followed by Exit 14/Newark near the port, and the Route 46/23/3 submarket. While transactions by large tenants, such as Amazon, dominated activity during the first half of the year, industrial buildings were filled up by smaller and mid-sized tenants during the third quarter of 2015. Retailers/wholesalers led the way, which is not surprising considering the continually growing e-commerce sector and recent increases in consumer spending. Supporting the recent economic resurgence of the sector, tenants in the manufacturing industry were also very active during the quarter, though many of their leases were small in size. Transportation companies also took space, enhancing …
New Orleans recently celebrated a significant milestone: the 10-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina making landfall. Those familiar with the area’s commercial real estate market agree that the city continues to thrive in and around the metro area. Despite a low vacancy rate and shortage of commercial opportunities in downtown proper, competition is fierce for quality properties, and new-to-market retailers have moved into the area. From the market downtown to the immediate suburbs and surrounding parishes, the Big Easy is well-positioned for continuous, steady growth. Sharing a border with New Orleans, Jefferson Parish is the most populous parish in the state. Veterans Memorial Boulevard is a six-lane thoroughfare in Jefferson Parish, which remains the primary retail development corridor in the market with the 120-store Lakeside Shopping Center. One of the most desirable spans of commercial real estate, the seven-mile stretch of highway runs from the airport to the intersection of Jefferson Parish and Orleans Parish. After scouring the market for several years, Trader Joe’s recently announced its first New Orleans metro area store in one of the last undeveloped tracts on Veterans Memorial Boulevard. Another grocery retailer, The Fresh Market, opened its first Jefferson Parish store in July. In addition, the …
Economic indicators that support the retail market in Atlanta, like unemployment and the addition of non-farm payroll jobs, show positive signs that the sector has recovered from the economic downturn. Unemployment dropped to 6.1 percent in July 2015, compared with 7.6 percent a year earlier, and companies are showing no signs of slowing down on the hiring process. Non-farm payroll jobs in July reached 2.58 million, an increase of 85,000 jobs, or 3.4 percent, from a year ago. Atlanta’s vacancy rate continues to fall, dropping from 8.1 percent earlier this year to 7.9 percent in the second quarter, according to CoStar. While space is hard to come by, the good news is that some developments are popping up. In fact, during the second quarter, 12 buildings were completed totaling 208,524 square feet. Mixed-use projects featuring multifamily units are still active, particularly when a grocery store anchor is involved. Fuqua Development is building a six-acre project on Piedmont Road near Cheshire Bridge Road that will feature 300 apartment units, as well as 34,000 square feet of retail space. Sprouts Farmers Market will anchor the retail space with a 26,000-square-foot store. Fuqua Development also broke ground on Kennesaw Marketplace in June. Academy …
Strong renter demand in the metro St. Louis apartment market helped boost annual effective rent growth by 3.6 percent in 2015, 200 basis points above the market’s long-term average, according to Axiometrics. An estimated 1,012 apartment units were delivered to the St. Louis market for all of 2015 compared with 2,378 units of absorption during the same period, reports Axiometrics. But with numerous projects in the pipeline, that ratio is likely to change over the next few years, say real estate experts. “We expect supply levels to increase in 2017 and for absorption to begin to struggle to keep up due to slowing job growth,” says Sophie Zatterstrom Gore, analyst with Axiometrics. But 2016 is a different story, she points out. Robust job growth will help absorption outpace new supply by about 600 units in 2016: 1,587 units of absorption versus 990 units of new supply. Such strong demand is giving a strong lift to real estate fundamentals in the local apartment sector. The average effective rent in the third quarter of 2015 was $914, which Axiometrics projects will rise to $948 by the end of 2016. The average vacancy rate is projected to fall from 6.3 percent at the …
Atlanta’s office market offers key factors that are harder to come by in other top markets: stability and top universities. Because the city is so diverse, it is not reliant on any one type of business for survival. It’s less volatile, which is one factor that has allowed us to come back from the Great Recession, although slowly, in a more firm and healthy fashion. In line with the majority of the country, Atlanta is currently a landlord’s market. With continued occupancy gains and a shortage of new product, rents are increasing and will continue to do so until additional Class A product delivers and the price gap between existing buildings and new construction gets smaller. Overall office vacancy in Atlanta is as its lowest point in 14 years, with strong growth in rental rates. However, Atlanta still offers the best deal overall, as tenants, developers, owners and investors are able to take advantage of its low cost of living and operating costs, excellent quality of life and a rich local talent pool. Driving the Atlanta office market, we see the technology, advertising, media and information (TAMI) sector. CBRE recently released two tech-related reports that rank the top tech talent …
Atlanta’s industrial market is hotter than the proverbial pistol. Second-quarter activity set a single-quarter record with more than 18.2 million square feet leased or sold. When added to the activity from the previous three quarters, Atlanta strung together more than 59.6 million square feet of completed transactions. This represents the second highest activity level ever recorded for a four-quarter period. There was more than 6.3 million square feet of positive net absorption. Combined with the previous three quarters, Atlanta shows a total of more than 19.7 million square feet of positive net absorption for the last four quarters. For the second quarter, the availability rate dropped one-tenth of a percent to 14 percent — the lowest it has been since the fourth quarter of 2000. And just four to five years ago, the overall availability rate was above 20 percent. Development and construction are absolutely booming. With more than 7 million square feet of new construction recorded during the second quarter, the market also set a record for new construction in a single quarter. When looking at the four-quarter total, we see more than 18.8 million square feet of new construction — a level not seen since 1998. Of that …
Greater Waco’s economy is on a roll. Positioned halfway between Dallas and Austin, Waco is a prime destination for companies and individuals wanting access to large metro areas without the hassles of traffic, expensive real estate and labor shortages. With newly completed facilities such as Baylor University’s McLane Stadium and major downtown redevelopment projects, Waco is hitting the radar for new development opportunities. October 2015 marked 43 months of positive economic growth for the area, with 4.8 percent growth in the third quarter of 2015 alone. Major organizations, including Baylor, continue to aid in elevating the status of Waco as a dominant player in the Central Texas region. Just as Texas has seen significant growth since 2008, so too has Waco. One major contributor to Waco’s economic success has been employment growth. Employers are creating new jobs in the area, with 1,600 more positions now in place, 113,700 compared to 112,100 in October 2014. Construction, manufacturing, healthcare, hospitality and logistics remain strong drivers for the economy. The result is a community with a 4.8 percent unemployment rate and residents with more disposable income. In fact, real median household income for the Waco MSA grew 5.8 percent, to $43,184, between the …
Without question 2015 was a “great year” for the St. Louis retail market, says Adam Glosier, senior vice president with Colliers International. “New users entered the market and few vacated. The St. Louis retail landscape benefitted from the continued expansion of organic grocers, sporting goods operators, quick service restaurants and soft goods retailers.” At the end of the third quarter, the vacancy rate stood at 7.1 percent, unchanged from the prior quarter but down from 8.2 percent a year earlier, according to CoStar Group. Net absorption totaled 579,206 square feet during the third quarter, bringing the year-to-date total to just under 900,000 square feet. Six new retail buildings were delivered in the third quarter, which collectively brought 612,595 square feet to the market. The gross leasable area (GLA) of the 29 buildings under construction at the end of the third quarter totaled 915,751 square feet. “There was a lot of activity in 2015 in the freestanding and small retailer market, as well as activity from junior anchors,” says Christopher Zoellner, senior vice president of retail with Balke Brown Transwestern. “This has created strong activity and a good pipeline going into 2016.” IKEA Makes ‘Big Splash’ A few retailers opening new …
The retail market for Louisville has continued to improve over the past year. New ground-up developments, which have been virtually nonexistent the past five years, are now open for business. Vacancy rates are falling, new tenants are entering the market, and retail investment sales continue to be in high demand. The $2.5 billion Louisville- Southern Indiana Ohio River bridges project is on track for a 2016 opening. New developments in downtown and northeast Louisville, as well as Southern Indiana, are looking to capitalize on the new infrastructure. GBT Realty is looking to expand its presence in the market with a proposed 220,000-square-foot joint venture project across the river in Jeffersonville, Ind. The site is located within in the 170-acre master-planned Jefferson Town Center on Veterans Parkway. Menards is opening a new 200,000-square-foot property this fall across the street from GBT’s proposed development. In addition to GBT Realty’s newly opened Middletown Commons and Jefferson Commons in Louisville, the three projects are from developments that were planned before the Great Recession and now have new life. The Outlet Shoppes of the Bluegrass, located in Simpsonville, Ky., has been a major success since opening in late 2014. After just six months, an expansion …
Despite the clichés and naysayers, Boston’s apartment fundamentals continue to trend at the top of U.S. cities’ forecasts. For developers, investors and borrowers, Boston truly is that city on a hill. Clichés heard often in the commercial real estate community: Interest rates have no place to go but up. Who is going to pay $4.50-per-square-foot rents? Wait until the next wave of units is delivered. Valuation and yield don’t make sense. The facts: Economists have been predicting interest rate increases for the past five years. Market vacancy has been sub-5 percent for more than five years. Every major apartment player owns or is currently building in Boston, averaging $1.2 billion in product for past three years. Boston is a premier gateway city and buyers want in. The Investor Outlook Simplified When cap rates for the most desired real estate class — in a gateway city, in the safest country for investment in the world — average 4.25 percent, it’s a great time to invest. The 2006 cap rates were just 100 basis points above the 10-year risk-free rate. Today they are 2.0 to 2.25 percent. Half of the deals are cash transactions. Locals can only shake their heads at the …