As the economy picks up in Columbia, South Carolina, the area’s multifamily market shows improvement. Columbia’s unemployment rate has declined steadily over the last year to its current rate of 8 percent. The largest employers in Columbia — which is the largest MSA in the state of South Carolina — are the state government, the University of South Carolina, Fort Jackson, Palmetto Health Baptist, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina. Columbia also showed an increase in manufacturing jobs over the past year. The area also benefits from recent economic development announcements. In May 2011, Michelin North America announced a $200 million dollar investment in its Lexington facility with 270 new jobs. Nephron Pharmaceuticals plans to build a $313 million manufacturing and research campus in Cayce’s Saxe Gotha Industrial Park, creating 700 new jobs. The University of South Carolina plans to build a state-of-the-art $91 million Moore School of Business to be located downtown at Assembly and Green. The former business school location will be leased to the Department of Justice for 20 years, which will bring in an additional 250 jobs. Amazon.com built a distribution facility in Columbia, which currently employs 600 workers, will eventually create up …
Market Reports
The Southern Maine retail market is rebounding. According to Malone Commercial Broker’s retail survey, Greater Portland’s vacancy rate was at a 10-year high of 10.8 percent in 2009 but dropped down to 6.24 percent in 2011. We are seeing absorption of some empty big boxes, and new retailers are entering Maine’s marketplace. Last year, Buffalo Wild Wings opened its first Maine restaurant in South Portland and then opened a second location in Auburn. Five Guys opened its first Maine location in Portland in 2011, and Elevation Burger opened in South Portland at the beginning of 2012. Despite national headlines that Urban Outfitters is struggling, in 2011 the trendy chain leased approximately 10,000 square feet on Middle Street in Portland. Other retailers new to Maine’s marketplace over the last year include Aveda, BAM! Books-A-Million, J. Jill and White House Black Market. In addition to new retailers entering Maine, some existing national and regional retailers are expanding. To name a few: ACE Hardware has opened a new location in Falmouth; Subway has opened additional locations in Scarborough, Westbrook, and Lewiston; and Verizon opened a flagship store off of Franklin Arterial in Portland. Maine banks and credit unions are expanding as well. Norway …
The Denver office market ended the first quarter of 2012 with an overall vacancy rate that fell to 13.1 percent. According to CoStar, the vacancy rate was down from the previous quarter of 13.2 percent. Net absorption was more than 1.6 million square feet, which included 900,000 square feet in the central business district (CBD), and 700,000 square feet in the suburban markets. Sublease vacancies also declined from 950,000 square feet to 900,000 square feet. Overall rental rates averaged $19.98 per square foot for full-service buildings. Class A properties averaged $23.81 per square foot for full service, while Class B averaged $17.73 per square foot. Both these rental rates were both up slightly, while Class C buildings remained flat at $13.50 per square foot. Leasing activity will continue to improve in 2012, with net absorption remaining positive throughout the entire market. The majority of submarkets are slowly shifting from markets that favor tenants to neutral markets with rental rate stability and decreased tenant concessions, including less free rent. As you can see, the outlook continues to be positive. There are several major indicators that market fundamentals are strengthening activity with limited new supply on the horizon. Additions/development projects that are …
There is substantial industrial development occurring in the Cincinnati market on a non-speculative basis, with three projects in various stages of completion. Foreign capital and the need for a French firm and a Japanese company to have a significant American manufacturing and distribution presence have spurred two of the developments. Usui International Corp., a Japanese automotive/engine components maker of fuel injection systems for Ford, Honda and Toyota, has nearly completed a 90,000-square-foot, heavy industrial facility in the Cincinnati suburb of Sharonville, just north of downtown. Usui toured the region for nearly a year before selecting the Sharonville site and purchased approximately 12 acres. Cincinnati Commercial Contracting is the developer of the build-to-suit project, which Usui will own. The project is scheduled for completion in the second quarter of this year. The Usui deal reflects a trend among Japanese auto companies of building facilities in North America for several reasons: Japan’s energy infrastructure is aging and its production capacity is limited, particularly with the closure of its nuclear generators; the high value of the yen versus the U.S. dollar has increased the price of Japanese-made products; a need to minimize logistics and shipping time and costs by switching much of Japan’s …
The return of development in the Raleigh-Durham apartment market should not be surprising to anyone familiar with the market, and neither should the pace of development, which leads the nation when judged by some metrics. Raleigh-Durham has become one of the most popular markets in the nation for investment over the last decade due mostly to its high-growth status. The Triangle’s existing inventory is relatively young which is appealing to a large number of investors seeking newer product, and this has propelled investment activity. More than $1.2 billion worth of apartments have traded in Raleigh-Durham since the beginning of 2011. Prospects of continued job and population growth are promising, and an analysis of these local trends indicate a need for new development that meets the changing preferences of renters in one of the nation’s fastest growing markets. Currently, 3,453 new units in 12 communities are under development in the Triangle. This accounts for 3.2 percent of current inventory of nearly 108,000 units. An additional 3,733 units are likely to break ground within the next 18 months. These projects generally represent the most desirable sites within their respective submarkets, are led by well-capitalized developers, and, in most cases, are backed by …
The recent performance of the Philadelphia apartment market offers evidence that a sustainable recovery is taking hold. Vacancy returned to a normal level, while property owners continue to realize greater success in raising rents. Newly employed residents and recent graduates of local colleges and universities will further stoke tenant demand in the quarters ahead. As would be expected following several quarters of solid performance, the recovery is initiating a new construction cycle, as heralded by the start of construction in the first quarter on a 319-unit rental in Center City. The pipeline of planned projects has also increased, but the potential impact on property operations will likely be modest as these projects represent 3 percent of existing stock. In addition, developers appear to be focused on adding rentals in areas where tenant demand is the greatest, placing a large concentration of their projects in Center City and Main Line submarkets, including Bala Cynwyd. Minimal additions to market-rate stock have moderated vacancies. During the 12 months ending in the first quarter, only the 97-unit 600 on Broad in Center City came online. Developers are becoming more confident, as 6,500 market-rate units are planned, an increase from 4,100 rentals 6 months ago. …
Retail leasing in the Inland Empire is slowly meandering its way back to a healthy stride. The gamut of activity is still centered around the best opportunities and the strongest centers, but occupancy levels are stabilizing and overall there is a sense of cautious optimism. The retail vacancy rate has remained flat for the past two quarters of 2011 at 8.8 percent. This is a positive trend, however, compared to rates of 11 percent and higher over the past few years. We have also seen new tenants expanding within this market, taking advantage of a lenient leasing climate and landlords anxious to fill their centers. Tenants like Family Dollar, Dollar General, Fallas Paredes, Chase, America’s Tire, O’Reilly, Autozone, Pep Boys, $99 Cents Only, Planet Fitness and Crunch Fitness are actively pursuing junior anchor and pad buildings in shopping centers. Meanwhile, Forever 21, T.J. Maxx, Steinmart, Hobby Lobby and even Kaiser Permanente have absorbed some of the largest vacancies in this market over the past year. Wal-Mart has broken ground on sites in the Victorville trade area and more are on the way, including a few Neighborhood Market locations that Wal-Mart has secured over the past year. While this is positive …
Milwaukee ended 2011 with its sixth consecutive quarter of positive net absorption and more than 3 million square feet of absorption for the year. Xceligent Inc. reported that the Milwaukee industrial market ended 2011 with a vacancy rate of 7.6 percent, down from 8.6 percent at the end of 2010. The national industrial vacancy rate by comparison ended 2011 at 9.9 percent, according to CoStar Group. Hungry for space Of the 67 national industrial markets tracked by Cassidy Turley, 59 recorded positive demand for warehouse space. Milwaukee was among the top 10 performers along with Dallas, Indianapolis, Atlanta, Houston and Chicago, the latter of which only surpassed Milwaukee by 200,000 square feet in 2011. Milwaukee and Southeast Wisconsin continue to attract food industry manufacturers, distributors and packagers. Most recently, Seda International Packaging Co., an Italian firm, opened its North American headquarters in Pleasant Prairie. It joined other food retailers like Gordon Food Services and Affiliated Foods Midwest, which have opened distribution centers in the last 2 years. ALDI and Roundy’s Foods also both have distribution centers greater than 1 million square feet in Southeast Wisconsin. Janesville, Wisconsin also attracted Melster Candy, which relocated its manufacturing operations to a 100,000-square-foot plant, …
We've all said time and again that the key to recovery in office real estate is continued and significant increase in employment rates. Like much of the rest of the country, Memphis has begun to see an uptick in employment in the professional and business sector. In the Memphis MSA, employment in this all-important sector for office real estate jumped from 73,400 to 87,100 during 2011, approaching pre-recession highs of 88,800. Additionally, on May 3, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that productivity in the U.S. fell at an annual rate of 0.5 percent for the first 3 months of 2012, after steady growth during 2011. This is the first sign that corporations have achieved the efficiency they desired and needed to weather the latest economic storm. As demand increases, corporations will be forced to hire to fill the gap between demand and capacity, so the good news for the market is that employment rates, the most fundamental drivers of office real estate, should continue to improve. There are a couple of black swan events, the outcomes of which will shape the immediate future of the office market in Memphis, and specifically the Central Business District. The first is …
Overall, the first quarter of 2012 brought improving market trends to the office sector in Philadelphia and Delaware. The number of tenants in the market has increased, although this has not translated into a significant increase in occupancy. Some tenants are growing, but it is still common for companies to make lateral space moves or take smaller, more efficient offices. In CBD Philadelphia, occupancy decreased slightly during the first quarter from 88.6 percent to 88.4 percent. The main reason for the loss in occupancy during the first quarter was due to banking sector tenants Citizens and Wells Fargo consolidating space in the Market East submarket. The Lehigh Valley also had a decrease in occupancy, mainly due to the closing of a 100,000-square-foot T-Mobile call center. On the other hand, the Pennsylvania suburbs, Southern New Jersey and Northern Delaware all registered low, but positive absorption for the first quarter. Numerous large tenants are looking in the market. However, many of these leases are likely to be renewals or moves without significant additional occupancy. With the exception of a rumored 145,000-square-foot Capital One lease in Wilmington, Delaware, which is a new requirement, none of the deals in the market are anticipated to …