Southeast Market Reports

What was once a vacant landscape has undergone a modern-day renaissance, transforming into a thriving, energetic hub infused with dynamic retail, local chef-driven eateries and desirable living and working environments. Tampa has evolved into a top “a place to see” and “place to be” for both out-of-state guests and residents alike. What is one the main driving forces behind this urban revitalization? The rise of high-density mixed-use developments and lifestyle centers that create central spaces for people to live, work, play, shop, dine and explore new experiences. Recently, Florida has benefited from a massive influx of residents and development activity as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Varying demographics and age groups flocked to the Sunshine State in search of more space, agreeable weather and an expedient reopening as far as retail, restaurant and entertainment. Along with the mass of new residents, Tampa quickly rose to become the second most popular city in the country for prospective homebuyers, reflecting a new interest to settle down in the area. The retail sector also boomed state-wide, but specifically in Tampa, with retail rents growing 7.8 percent over the last 12 months and ranking among the top 10 fastest growing markets, according to …

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Following the trends of both regional and national multifamily statistics, the Louisville metro area has had a robust stretch of development, repositioning and innovation in the multifamily housing sector that has surpassed 10 years in duration. With a population of 1.32 million, there are 516,000 households in Louisville with an average household income of $69,000. Pursuant to a recent CoStar Group report, Louisville has a total inventory of just over 84,000 units. It is anticipated that there will be over 91,000 units by 2026, a 8.3 percent increase. CoStar also forecasts that the Derby City’s vacancy rate will hover around 5.5 percent in 2026. One of the projects under development includes The Reserve (the Stable) at English Station. The 172-unit, Class A community adjoins a patio home development that was developed by Sunshine Industries. The property is slated for completion in January 2023. As far as popular neighborhoods for development, there are several recently developed or under construction projects in the city’s East End district. The city’s economy has benefited from the accelerated adoption of e-commerce as a result of the pandemic. Retailers and logistics providers are leasing a record amount of space as they seek to expand their distribution …

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The Louisville office market is taking diverse paths forward following the pandemic. The suburban Class A market is thriving with new construction, rental rate growth and resiliency in the face of downsizing tenants and negative absorption. A flight to quality among tenants has benefited local developers such as NTS Development, which has been constructing first-class, next-generation buildings at ShelbyHurst Office Campus since 2012. NTS recently completed its fifth speculative office building at the project, 425 North Whittington, a four-story, 130,000-square-foot building that is 60 percent leased with strong leasing activity. The flight to quality is driving tenants to choose higher-quality buildings with more expensive rental rates to help attract and retain talent and cater to a hybrid workforce. Traditional downtown occupiers are also considering the suburbs for the first time to create a workplace that draws employees back to the office. Suburban vacancy rates have increased since the end of 2019, with the Class A rate increasing by 490 basis points to 13.5 percent and the Class B vacancy rate increasing by 440 basis points to 15.2 percent as of second-quarter 2022. The average asking rental rate for Class A suburban space rose during this period despite increased vacancy rates. …

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With vacancy in Louisville’s industrial bulk market sitting at 1.7 percent, an increase of supply is sorely needed. Fortunately, plenty is on the way. At the halfway point of 2022, over 9.5 million square feet of bulk inventory is under construction, with approximately 4.8 million square feet slated for completion by year-end. Due to the demand for big box distribution warehouse space, which skyrocketed due to COVID-19 and the increase of online ordering and e-commerce fulfillment, absorption (12.9 million square feet) outpaced construction (9.9 million square feet) to the tune of 3 million square feet, and depleted vacancies in the process. Average asking rent increased from $4.79 per square foot to $5.26 in the second quarter and is up 26.7 percent from $4.15 at this time last year. This can mainly be attributed to overall increase in demand and increased construction costs. With nearly 5 million square feet of new speculative product hitting the market by year-end, coupled with recent completions of approximately 3 million square feet and 1.6 million square feet of sublease space expected to hit the market in the near future, deal rates are expected to steady and could potentially decrease as competition among landlords increases over …

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The retail market in the Orlando MSA is doing well, on the surface. According to the numbers, the region has recovered from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Orlando’s economy is heavily driven by tourism and when travel stopped and the initial state-wide shutdown orders went into effect on April 3, 2020, the impacts were profound and widespread, since four of the top 10 employers in Central Florida are in hospitality or retail, as well as Orlando International Airport. Since then, life in Central Florida has largely returned to normal. Tourism is back, hotel occupancy is up and people are dining out again. Retail numbers for the second quarter are actually better than in the first quarter of 2019, according to CoStar Group. The availability percentage at the beginning of 2019 was 5.9 percent, compared to 4.7 percent at the end of the second quarter. The average rent is up as well, rising from $21.94 per square foot to $25.52. Consumer habits have changed as e-commerce is still enormously popular, although it’s now more about convenience than mitigating risks. For those who can, working from home has become the preferred mode. As a consequence of the remote work trend, local …

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While the Research Triangle Park (RTP) is the heartbeat of all things life sciences in the Southeast, the outlying areas of the Raleigh-Durham market, commonly referred to as the Triangle, haven’t been ignored by expansive growth in the sector. Corporate announcements and expansions in Holly Springs, Sanford, Four Oaks and Hillsborough have been more prevalent in recent years, as well as in the home base of Raleigh. Amgen, a California based company, is constructing a $550 million biomanufacturing facility in Holly Springs, and Becton Dickinson recently selected Four Oaks in Johnston County for its new manufacturing site, with plans to invest approximately $25 million in the development. After many years of focusing on the manufacturing industry, Lee County, approximately 40 miles from Raleigh, is becoming a burgeoning hub for life sciences after the expansions of Pfizer’s 230-acre site. A subsidiary of Abzena chose Sanford following a nationwide search for its 325-job manufacturing facility. Also in Sanford, Astellas Gene Therapies delivered a $109 million facility in the second quarter, its first outside California. It is evident that investors and developers see great opportunity in both the heart of the Triangle’s urban cores and rapidly growing outlying counties. Developers are responding to …

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618 East South Street

The Orlando office market is finally seeing positive absorption across all major submarkets. An impressive second quarter recorded 122,423 square feet of positive absorption, bringing the total for the first half of the year to 156,778 square feet. As companies have been making decisions on their return to the office, the Orlando market has seen increased activity with numerous large, long-term leases signed, predominantly fueled by smaller local users and corporate relocations from other markets. Kimley-Horn’s relocation and expansion to 60,000 square feet in downtown Orlando marked one of the largest transactions in the past five years. While still up 20 basis points year-over-year, total vacancy saw its first drop in the last four quarters. Vacancy was consistently holding at 13.3 percent from third-quarter 2021 until it fell 30 basis points this quarter to 13 percent. The major driver of the drop was vacant sublease space being withdrawn or leased. Although firms are still seeking sublease route for their office space, we believe more space will be given back in the near term. We are seeing an increased pattern of flight to quality, where corporate users are focusing their attention on submarkets and assets that provide higher quality workplaces and …

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Still going strong after two years since the onslaught of COVID-19, Orlando’s industrial market has seen a steady increase of robust leasing activity and development, with no signs of stopping. The growth is attributable to record-low vacancy, emerging construction and increasing demand from existing tenants expanding their businesses and new tenants in the market. Economic conditions affecting the market are similar to last year, as labor shortages and supply chain issues remain. However, the industrial sector overall has not been adversely affected. Orlando continues to be the place for existing business advancement and new business development. The city’s population growth outpaces that of any other city in Florida due to its central location, warm weather year-round, no state tax and relative affordability. As such, the market is seeing large enterprise retail and consumer goods companies claiming their stake in the Sunshine State. Robust leasing activity The total industrial leasing volume in the Orlando market for the second-quarter 2022 was 4.5 million square feet, 43 percent of the total leasing volume seen in 2021. Eight leases over 100,000 square feet were signed to date in 2022. The largest lease in the first half of 2022 was the new 294,787-square-foot Coca-Cola lease …

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The high quality of life and relatively low cost of living in Richmond, coupled with sustained investment in live-work-play infrastructure, has led to population growth and a surge in investor interest in the city. The job market is showing strong signs of recovery with an unemployment rate of 3.2 percent, which is 40 basis points below the national average. Although office-using employment remains elevated at 3 percent from pre-pandemic levels, office vacancy rates remain relatively stable at 11.2 percent. Live-work-play rules the day Richmond has become a hot spot for millennials, boasting a low cost of living, high quality of life and amenity-rich neighborhoods. While the broader Richmond market has recorded 10 percent population growth since 2010, key submarkets in the urban core are growing at a faster pace, with Scott’s Addition recording 23 percent population growth during the same period. Developers have capitalized on this increased demand for city living, building out the urban core with multifamily and mixed-use developments in trendy submarkets. Scott’s Addition and Manchester — which have more breweries per capita than any other neighborhood — have added a combined 3,000 apartment units in the last five years, with an additional 1,300 units currently under construction. …

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With a 20 percent increase in population in the City of Richmond over the past half decade, and more to come, the city still struggles to attract national retail tenants such as The TJX Cos., Williams-Sonoma and Ann Taylor LOFT, as well as other soft and hard goods users. What Richmond does not struggle attracting are breweries, distilleries, regional and local restaurant operators and many start-up retailers dipping their toes into the growing 22 to 35 demographic calling Scott’s Addition and Manchester home. The food-and-beverage scene in Greater Scott’s Addition is blowing up with the addition of restaurant operations such as ZZQ (rated the best BBQ in Richmond), Lucky AF (from EAT Restaurant Partners), Wood & Iron, Tazza Kitchen and the James Beard Award-winning Peter Chang’s. When coupled more than 15 breweries, distilleries and the city’s only meadery, this energy is attracting ‘retailtainment’ such as River City Roll, Bingo Beer, The Circuit, Tang & Biscuit, Movieland by Bow Tie Cinema and Brambly Park. TRP (Thalhimer Realty Partners), Historic Housing (Louis Salomonsky’s firm) and Capital Square 1031 are local companies leading the developments, and Greystar and Bonaventure have come in from out of town to plant their flag as well. The …

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