As Nashville closes out 2025, the industrial market has solidified its reputation as a resilient powerhouse in the Southeast. With record investment volumes exceeding $2.2 billion and vacancy rates remaining well below national averages, the Nashville MSA continues to attract distributors, manufacturers, and data center-related businesses. This robust performance reflects a recalibration from pandemic-era highs while maintaining durable demand, setting the stage for balanced growth in 2026. Trends shaping the market Several macroeconomic trends are influencing Nashville’s industrial landscape. Nearshoring/onshoring and supply chain diversification have heightened the city’s appeal as a logistical hub. It is important to note that Nashville is strategically located within a day’s drive of over half the U.S. population. Locally, job growth has outpaced the national average, with Oxford Economics reporting a 1.1 percent increase in 2025, bolstered by gains in manufacturing, logistics and retail. Notably, Moody’s Analytics highlights transportation equipment manufacturing as a key driver, as automakers increase domestic production to mitigate tariffs. Further enhancing Nashville’s logistical capabilities, the planned expansion of air freight capacity at Nashville International Airport in 2027 is poised to solidify the region’s role in cargo throughput, supported by a robust highway network and a growing labor force. Despite broader economic …
— By Tim Donald of JLL Capital Markets — When investment capital flows into Orange County’s office market today, it’s revealing a fundamental shift that sophisticated investors can’t afford to ignore: the distinction between quality and commodity office space has never been more pronounced, and that gap is only widening. The challenge for many investors has been identifying opportunities that offer both stability and upside in an environment where traditional core assets provide minimal growth while pure value-add plays carry significant execution risk. What we’re seeing emerge in Orange County is a compelling middle ground, deals that feel core-plus but deliver value-add returns, and there’s substantial liquidity chasing these opportunities. The Tier System Reshapes Investment Strategy JLL’s national office team has developed a tiering system that divides office properties into distinct quality categories based on amenities, location and tenant appeal. In Orange County, this frame-work has revealed a market operating on fundamentally different planes. Tier I assets, representing a small fraction of the county’s inventory, are demonstrating exceptional resilience while Tier II properties continue to attract significant tenant and investor interest. This isn’t just academic categorization. The performance differential shows that investors are willing to pay premiums for assets with clear …
By Michael Poris, McIntosh Poris Architects Long defined by its industrial legacy, Detroit development currently combines ground-up construction with intelligent, innovative adaptive reuse. Brick-and-mortar manufacturing-era remnants include many buildings that originally served the automotive industry. As large-scale manufacturing relocated and Detroit’s population declined, several significant buildings were abandoned. Many are viable for second lives, ones that fulfill current commercial real estate market demands. Adaptive reuse makes sense I co-founded McIntosh Poris in 1994 to protect Detroit’s historic buildings from bulldozers and redesign them for a post-manufacturing economy. At that time, demolition was the most expedient option. To address this, we focused as much on civic networking and preservation education as architectural design. Implementation involved organizing events with public officials and the local business community to meet leaders of other cities’ successful urban-renewal programs. To make Detroit more attractive to commercial real estate investment, we lobbied for zoning changes. Most relevant, commercial and historic districts were re-evaluated to permit mixed-use redevelopment. Historic preservation became viable, often making sense both financially and culturally. Well before sustainability became a commercial real estate consideration, we educated developers on available adaptive reuse incentives such as historic tax credits. Combined with the inherent efficiencies of reuse, …
If there is one defining characteristic of the Raleigh-Durham retail market today, it is scarcity. Exceptionally low vacancy — especially in high-quality, well-located centers — has become the norm rather than the exception, fundamentally reshaping leasing dynamics, rent growth and development strategy across the region. As of third-quarter 2025, overall retail vacancy in Raleigh-Durham stood at approximately 2.4 percent, marking four consecutive years below the 3 percent threshold. Even more telling, spaces under 10,000 square feet posted vacancy closer to 1.8 percent, underscoring just how competitive conditions have become for local and regional tenants. This imbalance between demand and supply has placed landlords in a position of sustained leverage, particularly in grocery-anchored centers, strong neighborhood and lifestyle shopping centers or mixed-use environments. Low vacancy matters because it drives outcomes. Lease-ups are happening faster, concessions are increasingly rare in top trade areas and rents continue to trend upward. For tenants, especially those seeking smaller footprints, waiting to engage often means missing opportunities altogether. For owners, the market rewards proactive asset management and disciplined tenant selection. A clear example of this dynamic is Olde Raleigh Village, a grocery-anchored community shopping center that is currently 100 percent leased. With no vacancy to contend …
— By John Read of CBRE Retail Investment Properties-West — Orange County is often defined by its 42 miles of Pacific coastline, its globally recognized theme parks like Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm, and retail landmarks like South Coast Plaza and Fashion Island. Those assets contribute to the region’s visibility and appeal. But they are not what ultimately sustain its retail performance. The county’s strength is rooted in its scale and demographics. Encompassing nearly 800 square miles, Orange County is home to more than 3.1 million residents and one of the most diverse populations in the U.S., including the second-highest share of foreign-born residents in Southern California. The county’s strong retail fundamentals are supported by significant affluence and education. Average household income exceeds $157,000, and 46 percent of residents hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. Orange County is also home to major employers, including Disney, UC Irvine, Providence, Kaiser Permanente and Hoag, maintaining a low unemployment rate of 3.9 percent. These factors collectively make Orange County’s retail property fundamentals undeniable. The Orange County retail market ended the fourth quarter with a countywide availability rate of 3.9 percent, down 10 basis points from the previous quarter. Several submarkets were even tighter. …
By Ryan Brittain, Colliers Speculative construction has always carried a certain boldness in industrial real estate. Building without a tenant can either signal visionary thinking or a bold bet on future demand. In metro Detroit, that confidence was on full display during the post-COVID boom. To meet the surge in tenant demand, highly respected industrial developers raced to deliver modern distribution space across the region. At the height, preleasing was not always necessary but often occurred. Developers pushed forward on new Class A warehouses, confident that tenant requirements would catch up and, for a time, they did. Yet here we are in 2026, and speculative development is not an idea of the past. It is returning, this time with more discipline. This is not another Resurgit cineribus Detroit comeback story, but rather a thoughtful recalibration. The “Return of the Spec” reflects a market that has matured and learned, not one that has overheated. To understand it today, it helps to revisit how we arrived. As a wave of newly completed speculative projects delivered (at one point, the market saw 12 million square feet under construction), availability expanded. Shortly thereafter, the automotive industry hit an uncertain patch in late 2023. Vacancy …
The Raleigh/Durham office market is not yet in full recovery mode; however, the latest data suggests something just as important: stabilization. Compared to many U.S. office markets still experiencing significant stress, Raleigh-Durham is holding its ground — and in several respects, outperforming national trends. Currently, the combined Raleigh-Durham office market totals approximately 118.7 million square feet, with Raleigh making up roughly two-thirds of the inventory and Durham the remainder. Together, they form one of the Southeast’s most dynamic and resilient office regions. Vacancy elevated, improving While higher than pre-pandemic norms, vacancy is trending better than many peer markets. Raleigh’s vacancy rate currently sits around 11.1 percent, while Durham’s vacancy rate is approximately 9.8 percent, according to research from CoStar Group. Combined, this market boasts a blended office vacancy rate of roughly 10.7 percent, well below the 14.1 percent national average. Over the past 12 months, Raleigh recorded positive net absorption of approximately 574,000 square feet, while Durham experienced negative absorption of about 480,000 square feet. Combined, the market landed near equilibrium, which sends an encouraging signal that the market is no longer sliding backward, even if growth remains uneven. The area’s post-pandemic growth is shaped by hybrid work models, changing …
— By Rob Martensen of Colliers — The Phoenix industrial market has always resembled a rough sea with lots of highs and lows. The market’s industrial real estate community is full of strong, confident captains who have weathered the high seas to reach the destination of a balanced market. The challenges of today are no different than those in any other market: how do we stay resilient, stay active and stay in business? Phoenix has experienced very strong absorption, mostly from the big-box market. User sales and leases have led the way, with Walmart and Dollar Tree among the most active. Then there’s the cherry on top: another big Amazon lease. What’s bigger than all of that? Retail discounter Burlington is closing on 178 acres in Buckeye to build a 2.1-million-square-foot distribution center. The latest quarterly numbers reinforce this momentum: fourth-quarter vacancy dipped below 10 percent to 9.7 percent, while year-to-date absorption totaled a healthy 18,228,088 square feet, representing some of the highest levels in the U.S. Yes, the big-box market is alive and well…but that’s only one side of today’s story. What’s struggling the most in Phoenix is mid-bay, the most common type of product built post-COVID. Some of …
By Joshua Allen and David Kelpe, JLL One year ago, CBRE Research forecasted a shortage of prime office space in Heartland Real Estate Business. That prediction has proven accurate. Since the beginning of 2025, demand for top-tier office space has continued to drive leasing activity across the region. This persistent appetite for quality has pushed prime Class A availability to record lows, creating a competitive environment for tenants and landlords alike. The St. Louis office market encompasses approximately 53 million square feet of competitive space. Yet, a closer look reveals a critical challenge: 73 percent of this inventory was constructed before the 1990s. This aging supply base means that only 2.6 million square feet qualifies as truly “prime” — the newest, most desirable assets located in walkable urban areas with abundant amenities. These buildings represent the gold standard for tenants seeking modern design, energy efficiency and proximity to vibrant neighborhoods. Currently, prime Class A availability sits at a mere 5.5 percent, a stark contrast to the 25.2 percent average for non-prime Class A assets. This gap reflects a clear and ongoing preference among tenants for buildings that combine high-quality construction with strategic location. In short, companies are willing to pay …
By Taylor Williams The challenges are multi-faceted. The timelines are elongated. The costs are brutal. The capital is tight. The consumers’ incomes are strained. The prevailing logic favors buying over building. The list goes on. And yet some retail developers in Texas and Oklahoma see the current environment as one that represents a unique chapter in the saga of their business — one that makes them glad they do what they do. That sentiment is not just a factor of a post-COVID resurgence built on the realization that brick-and-mortar stores and e-commerce platforms work better in tandem than in opposition. And it’s not just a natural byproduct of favorable supply-demand dynamics that have pushed retail occupancies and rents to record highs in most major markets. It goes beyond being the beneficiary of new capital flows as the commercial real estate darlings of the past decade — industrial and multifamily — have experienced softening fundamentals. The feeling is, in the words of Stevie Wonder, all these things and more. “It’s a special time in this business, even if it’s a different one,” says David Neher, president at Dallas-based Rainier Development Co. “There’s a fair amount of front-end risk and planning for …