Market Reports

Twin Cities Industrial Market Poised for Additional Growth

by Kristin Harlow April 15, 2021

By Joe Mahoney, Opus Development Co. Despite a confluence of major events in 2020 that shook our world — the pandemic, social unrest, historically high rates of unemployment — the industrial real estate market in the Twin Cities fared very well. While positive net absorption was limited in the second quarter of 2020, the rate accelerated to 1.1 million square feet during the fourth quarter and ended the year at 3.2 million square feet, according to CBRE Minneapolis-St. Paul. Active users also increased. In the beginning of 2020, there were 6.4 million square feet of users. At the end of the third quarter, that number had increased to 10 million, and by the end of the year, there were close to 12 million square feet of users, almost doubling over the course of the year. We see user demand continuing to trend up and accelerate this year. To support growth plans, users are looking for highly functional manufacturing, warehousing and distribution facilities. Many businesses are increasing efficiency and productivity by consolidating several obsolete buildings into one new highly functional, build-to-suit space. COVID-19 supply chain disruption has prompted some businesses to increase their footprint for storing more inventory and reducing reliance …

April 15, 2021

Market Reports Multifamily Texas Texas Market Reports

San Antonio Multifamily Market Maintains Healthy Supply-Demand Balance

by Taylor Williams April 14, 2021

By Sean Sorrell, senior managing director, JLL Last year, San Antonio’s multifamily sector was one of the only markets nationally in which the 2020 absorption exceeded that of previous years. Moreover, the city’s development pipeline was already contracting after 2019, so additional supply reductions in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 should result in rebounding occupancy across the metro. The market is maintaining balance in terms of supply and demand and is poised to elevate its national prominence. The San Antonio multifamily market ‘s overall inventory is approaching 185,000 units, having grown by roughly 8 percent over the last two years. Ongoing supply growth has marginally outpaced demand, but even in the face of COVID-19, the overall market is approximately 92 percent occupied. JLL’s research shows that nationally, more than 6 percent of apartment renters have vacated their units since April 2020, either moving back in within parents or “coupling up” with roommates. San Antonio experienced very little of this effect, with an occupancy loss of less than 1 percent due to this temporary phenomenon. These displaced renters are likely to re-enter the apartment market in the near term, and, with ongoing in-migration, we anticipate the San Antonio market should …

April 14, 2021

Market Reports New Jersey Northeast Northeast Market Reports Retail

Diverse Mix of Retailers, Restaurants Remain Active in Northern New Jersey

by Taylor Williams April 13, 2021

By Danielle Brunelli, president, R.J. Brunelli & Co. On both the landlord and tenant sides, 2020 was a tough year for the Northern New Jersey retail market. But as some of the industry’s most optimistic voices predicted, the hard times are passing, and actually passing fairly quickly. In 2020, we saw leasing activity decline by almost 30 percent year over year. This languishing activity resulted in a 3.1 percent drop in the market rent on a per-square-foot basis. Over the past couple years, there were several bankruptcies in the works that were accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. These bankruptcies resulted in many new vacancies in the region, including former stores of Modells, Justice, Pier 1 Imports, Tuesday Morning, Steinmart and others. However, light has appeared at the end of the tunnel, and we are seeing renewed leasing activity as we close the first quarter of 2021. Users including Planet Fitness, Dollar Tree, Harbor Freight, Raymour and Flanigan, salon suites concepts, Five Below and others are leasing up vacant spaces quickly. Tenant Expansions A good example of an essential service business that has benefited from an increase in sales throughout the pandemic and aggressively expanded in the region in 2020 is …

April 13, 2021

Market Reports Retail Texas Texas Market Reports

Where Does the San Antonio Retail Market Stand One Year into the Pandemic?

by Taylor Williams April 9, 2021

By David Nicolson, president, Weitzman San Antonio In March 2020, health officials first used the term “pandemic” in reference to COVID-19. Since then, our communities, economy, commercial real estate industry and retailers and restaurants have gone through a year of challenges that few could have foreseen at the start of 2020. The fact that today we are in better shape than we could have predicted during the shutdown a year ago shows that the disruptions caused by the pandemic have been met with innovation, creativity and plain hard work. Here in San Antonio, those disruptions did result in a number of retail and restaurant closings. But since the second half of 2020, we’ve seen an upswing in tenant demand. In terms of closings, Sears closed its 150,000-square-foot store at South Park Mall and its approximately 134,000-square-foot store at Rolling Oaks Mall. With these store closings, Sears — once the nation’s largest retailer — no longer has a presence in the San Antonio market. Other closures include Stein Mart (three box vacancies), Pier 1 (five closed stores), Gold’s Gym (three closed locations) and Tuesday Morning (one closed location). Combined, these closings resulted in approximately 564,000 square feet of total vacancy being …

April 9, 2021

Illinois Market Reports Midwest Midwest Market Reports Office

Tenants, Landlords Analyze Future of Chicago’s Fulton Market District

by Kristin Harlow April 8, 2021

By Allen Rogoway, Cresa Chicago Over the past seven years, the Fulton Market office submarket has changed the landscape, and boundaries, of Chicago’s central business district (CBD) and what a “live-work” ecosystem can look like. Whereas the River North office submarket evolved over 30 years to become a low-cost alternative to the Loop for creative, boot-strapped companies requiring mostly small footprints, Fulton Market was developed for tech-centric, multinationals willing to pay “Trophy Tower” prices to attract and retain the very best talent. Employees didn’t mind adding a Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) transfer or 20 extra minutes to commute times each way in order to be in a neighborhood that was developed by big money yet felt authentic. Much of the architecture was preserved, and new construction was held to standards whereby the new mostly blended in with the area’s former produce, cold storage and century-old warehouses that had been converted for office use. Then old-guard companies and industries from accounting, consumer products and even law, started to set up shop in buildings that provided people with a very different workplace experience than what they were used to. Ownerships thoughtfully invested in tenant amenity spaces and retail pairings that matched with …

April 8, 2021

Acquisitions Market Reports Multifamily Texas Texas Market Reports

El Paso Multifamily Investment Demand Remains Strong Through First Quarter of 2021

by Taylor Williams April 7, 2021

By Jack Stone, director of investment sales, Greysteel “What do you have in El Paso?” The country is over a year into the pandemic, and Greysteel is still receiving calls on a daily basis from groups asking just that. We sold thousands of units in El Paso over the two years leading up to COVID-19, and there’s no end in sight. In fact, even in these uncertain times, demand seems to have grown. Attracted to the higher yields, strong tenant base and increasingly diversified economy, investors are coming to El Paso in droves. It’s no secret that the Texas multifamily market has been hot. Out-of-state groups were first drawn to markets like Dallas, Austin, Houston and San Antonio because they offered higher yields with fewer regulations than markets like New York and California. But it was only a matter of time before even those cities, which are seeing with cap rates begin to compress 4 to 5 percent, got too hot. Investors subsequently began exploring other options and turned to cities like El Paso, where the fundamentals were strong and yields still attractive. Demographic Advantages El Paso’s multifamily market has always had a strong tenant base. New players in the …

April 7, 2021

Georgia Industrial Market Reports Southeast Southeast Market Reports

Latest Shift in Atlanta’s Industrial Landscape: Mid-Sized Deals are All the Rage

by John Nelson April 5, 2021

While retail and office have had to adjust to a COVID-19 world, industrial has been the beneficiary. E-commerce, supply chain and last mile delivery are all the rage. But what has really gotten economic development leaders, elected officials and the media excited are the massive warehouse deals in cities like Atlanta that have created headlines and driven investor capital to industrial. Atlanta didn’t even truly get into the big-box industrial development game until 2004. From 1960 to 2006 there were just 13 buildings larger than 1 million square feet constructed in the metro area, but 11 were build-to-suits for users such as JC Penney, Kmart, Publix, Home Depot and the General Services Administration. Only Duke Realty (2004) and Majestic (2006) developed speculative properties spanning more than 1 million square feet. Between 2006 and 2015, there were 11 buildings more than 1 million square feet added to the city’s inventory, with seven of those south of Interstate 20, three in the Northeast 85 corridor and one on the Interstate 20 West Corridor. As Atlanta’s economy roared back in 2016, the market exploded with 17 new big-box facilities in just five years. While prior to 2015 the field of players constructing these …

April 5, 2021

Market Reports Restaurant Retail Southeast Southeast Market Reports Tennessee

Nashville Retail Market’s Investment Sales, Leasing Activity Defy Pandemic Impact

by John Nelson April 5, 2021

In spite of national trends, news of spiking default rates and a prediction of a national decline in retail tenancy, the middle Tennessee region appears to be emerging in equal (or better) condition from one of the most unusual years in history. Prior to the government-mandated shutdowns last year, retail activity in Nashville was at a fever pitch. A decade of year-over-year population and economic growth created a strong seller’s and landlord’s market, with no end in sight. The University of Tennessee’s Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research projected a 1 million-person population growth for Middle Tennessee by 2040. This strong, sustained growth pushed retail rents up more than 50 percent since 2010 and represents one of the largest cumulative increases in the nation, behind only Miami and Austin. In 2019, the Nashville region saw asking rents above the national average, according to CoStar Group. One year ago, the sudden and unexpected COVID-19 shutdowns made the collective hearts of 2008 survivors skip a beat. A real concern of what the next week or month might look like hit both landlords and tenants in the region, particularly in the downtown retail district that is historically reliant on tourism. As music …

April 5, 2021

Market Reports Multifamily Texas Texas Market Reports

Texas Multifamily Developers Navigate New Minefields

by Taylor Williams April 2, 2021

By Taylor Williams The past 12 months have thrown multifamily developers a full nine innings’ worth of curveballs, and while many owner-operators have successfully adjusted to the various challenges brought on by the pandemic, they are still tasked with figuring out how much staying power these disruptions will ultimately have. To be sure, the major markets of Texas remain well-positioned for multifamily growth. Even amid a global health crisis, the Lone Star State has maintained its status as a national leader in population growth, having added 374,000 residents between July 2019 and 2020, according to the most current data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The reporting of final census numbers for 2020 has been delayed by the pandemic. But the Texas Legislature has already committed to a redistricting plan that is likely to increase the state’s number of congressional representatives in the coming years — a significant and visible response to its exceptionally healthy population growth. In terms of jobs, no city has garnered more attention for major moves in the past 12 months than Austin, first landing the $1 billion Tesla Gigafactory that will come on line later this year, then receiving a commitment from Oracle to relocate its …

April 2, 2021

Illinois Market Reports Midwest Midwest Market Reports Office

The Future of Chicago’s CBD Is Slowly Coming into Focus

by Kristin Harlow April 1, 2021

By Jeff Mulder, Colliers International Chicago By now, we all know that the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc across the world, affecting life as we knew it in the most unexpected ways. Our business, the business of office space, has been hit hard as companies almost instantly deferred or canceled real estate decisions and switched to work-from-home. The average occupancy of buildings in Chicago’s central business district (CBD) is currently 8.2 percent, according to the Building Owners and Managers Association. One year in, and corporations are still trying to determine the best path forward and what that will look like. But evidence of change, and some signs of what the future will look like, are slowly coming into focus. One noteworthy and reliable data point is sublease space. Colliers research reports that in the 20-plus-year history of Chicago’s office market, vacant sublease space offerings rise and peak within two to four quarters following major financial crises like the 2002 Tech Wreck and the 2009 Great Financial Crisis. Following these trends, current sublease space offerings in Chicago’s CBD have more than doubled since March 2020. Typically in the past, tenants in the market quickly absorbed sublease spaces that were offered — …

April 1, 2021

Newer Posts

Older Posts