Southeast Market Reports

Birmingham Retail a Solid Bet Before COVID-19 Outbreak, and it Will Bounce Back

by Alex Tostado April 6, 2020

What a time to write an article on the state of the retail real estate market in Birmingham. A few short weeks ago this would have been a much easier task. The fundamentals of the Birmingham retail market are healthy and exciting despite the current health crisis and the fact that we have experienced very little population growth. I travel across the country regularly, and there is a national undercurrent about Birmingham that is exciting. Birmingham is spoken about nationally as a city with great food and quality of life, which are the types of things always said about a city prior to it hitting a tipping point. We expect that consumer behavior is going to be different coming out of the pandemic, and that the way retail and restaurant businesses operate will continue to adapt to that consumer behavior. Traditional developments Traditional shopping centers continue to be strong regional draws, with tenant mixes focusing on local and national brands. Lee Branch is one of the most successful in Birmingham. The Dick’s Sporting Goods and Golf Galaxy side-by-side concept opened in February at Lee Branch and is the first of its kind in the state. Discount retail, although not new, …

April 6, 2020

Industrial Market Reports South Carolina Southeast Southeast Market Reports

Upstate’s Infrastructure, Workforce Set Table for Future Industrial Expansion

by Alex Tostado March 30, 2020

In 2019, the Greenville-Spartanburg industrial market added an unprecedented 33 buildings encompassing 10 million square feet of inventory, bringing the total market size to approximately 211 million square feet. Despite record-breaking new deliveries, absorption has kept pace at 9.6 million square feet the same year. This market is preparing for future growth with delivery of available buildings and land sites, as well as investment in infrastructure and the overall workforce. With the increased supply of Class A speculative space, the market has seen numerous company expansions and relocations away from its Class B product type. New, modern space provides the efficiencies and amenities companies desire (i.e. above 32-foot clear heights). In order to service customers’ consumption preferences, companies are making capital investments into automated processes that allow them to stay competitive in a rapidly changing supply chain. One of the earliest signs of momentum in 2020 was the announcement of South Greenville Enterprise Park and its first user investment, Vermeer. South Greenville Enterprise Park is the first industrial park to deliver to the Greenville market in 10 years. Primary investment has been focused on the S.C. Highway 101 and S.C. Highway 290 corridors due to demand drivers such as BMW …

March 30, 2020

Market Reports Maryland Retail Southeast Southeast Market Reports

Baltimore Retail Market Stands Tall, Poised for Another Solid Year Ahead

by Alex Tostado March 23, 2020

It’s gearing up to be another solid year for Baltimore’s retail industry. Thus far, the first quarter has shown few surprises and has largely been a continuation of the success the sector saw in fourth-quarter 2019. Rent has remained relatively flat the past two years, outside of a few developments that have delivered, and we’re expecting more of the same this year. After a small bump in the road five years ago, the market has stabilized and retail vacancy in the Baltimore metro region remains tight. With limited new supply coming to market, landlords are focused on backfilling existing space. Class A and B properties continue to show healthy leasing trends, while Class C properties continue to be the value options for mostly local retailers. Baltimore metro’s primary retail corridors — York Road, Reisterstown Road, the core of downtown Baltimore, Columbia, White Marsh and Annapolis — continue to thrive. We’re also seeing strong growth along Ritchie Highway from Pasadena to Glen Burnie, buoyed by a string of new store openings at the Pasadena Crossroads Shopping Center, which is anchored by Sprouts Farmers Market, Ulta Beauty, T.J. Maxx, DSW, LA Fitness, Party City, Hobby Lobby, HomeGoods and Gardiner Wolf Furniture. In …

March 23, 2020

Baltimore Multifamily Rent and Occupancy Forecast March 2020

Content Partner Lument Market Reports Maryland Multifamily RED Capital Group Southeast Southeast Market Reports

Underappreciated Multifamily Markets: Maryland Edition

by Jaime Lackey March 17, 2020

Although attractive multifamily investment opportunities may still be available in gateway cities, investors increasingly are sourcing deals in secondary markets where land and asset prices are lower, cap rates a bit more generous and an unpicked gem of value-add fruit can still be found on the vine by intrepid late-cycle buyers. Parties looking to replicate past successes may not have to look too far afield as Maryland markets — overshadowed of late by Washington and Philadelphia — offer much of what they seek with perhaps a lower degree of risk. In the last decade and particularly the last three years, the catalyst for economic growth in the Capital Area has shifted from government to high-tech services. As the tide turned, the focus of commercial real estate activity moved south toward Washington’s central core and Northern Virginia. In the process, the Maryland suburbs lost some of their star power. The diminished status of Montgomery and Prince George’s counties wasn’t entirely a matter of perception. Suburban Maryland apartment performance materially underperformed national averages in 2017 and 2018, and the spread widened between cap rates applied to Maryland properties on one hand and District and Northern Virginia assets on the other. Same-store property …

March 17, 2020

Industrial Market Reports Maryland Southeast Southeast Market Reports

After Historic Industrial Leasing Year in Baltimore Region, What Comes Next?

by Alex Tostado March 16, 2020

Industrial leasing activity in the greater Baltimore metropolitan region last year began with a whimper thanks to the federal government shutdown in January and February, but quickly gathered steam and never looked back, even in the final days to close out the year. In fact, the pace was record-breaking and historic by any measurement, with more than 9.5 million square feet of space absorbed. This figure was approximately 40 percent higher than 2018, which was also a tremendous year. There is more good news locally for companies that make their living developing warehouse and industrial space, brokers who match end-users for the available spaces and related professionals. Central to this activity is that fact that lots of people live in the Combined Statistic Area of Baltimore-Washington, D.C. region, which is the fourth largest MSA in the country and is still growing. A certain Seattle-based online retail company is establishing its second headquarters just down the road in Northern Virginia and its positive impact is being felt throughout the region. The central Maryland marketplace boasts an enviable transportation network led by major north-south axis Interstate 95, is within close proximity to several major seaports (Baltimore, Wilmington and Philadelphia) and one-third of …

March 16, 2020

Market Reports Maryland Office Southeast Southeast Market Reports

The Burgeoning Columbia Market Steps Out of the Shadows of Baltimore, D.C.

by Alex Tostado March 9, 2020

As real estate becomes more operational, a trend has emerged of major investors migrating away from big metros into secondary and tertiary markets. Occasionally, those markets move out of the shadows of their larger neighbors and acquire their own identity. Enter Columbia, Maryland, which initially attained national attention and acclaim as one of the first master-planned communities in the United States. Columbia is now in the midst of a major transformation. Built from the ground up in then-bucolic Howard County, Columbia was founded by developer James Rouse in 1967. Strategically located between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., the now 53-year-old community is blossoming with its own talent creators, talent attractors and 14 million square feet of new live-work-play development in a downtown transformed by The Howard Hughes Corp., a successor to The Rouse Co. The beginnings of Downtown Columbia’s emergence include the Merriweather District, which opens this spring. The first of three neighborhoods planned for downtown Columbia, the Merriweather District is being developed as a regional hub of culture and commerce. Talent creators The Howard County market is already home to cybersecurity incubators and cyber-focused venture capitalists like DataTribe and AllegisCyber. These companies consistently house and fund entrepreneurs developing innovative approaches …

March 9, 2020

Washington and North Virginia Rent Occupancy Graph

Content Partner District of Columbia Features Lument Market Reports Multifamily RED Capital Group Southeast Southeast Market Reports Virginia

Washington’s Tech Boom Changes the Multifamily Investment Calculus

by Sarah Daniels March 3, 2020

Washington and Northern Virginia are among the nation’s most expensive places to rent an apartment, which in part explains the billions of dollars being spent on apartment construction there. But Capital Area asset returns in the post-recession era haven’t clearly supported these decisions. From 2013 to 2018, rents in Washington and NoVA increased at respective compound annual rates of 3.2 percent and 2.6 percent, tabulating Reis data, materially slower than the 4.7 percent average growth recorded by the 50 largest U.S. apartment markets. Likewise, occupancy trends were no better than average, muted by heavy supply, suggesting that Washington NOI growth in most cases was measurably slower than in alternative markets. But everything changed last year. Although Washington has been a technology player for decades, the region’s strengths fell primarily in telecom and defense, markets in which proximity to government was a competitive advantage. But the region’s growing prowess in private applications of digital technology reached critical mass in 2019 with Amazon’s decision to site its East Coast headquarters in Northern Virginia, specifically with a view toward tapping its deep reservoir of high-tech talent. The impact on economic growth in the capital is only beginning and seems likely to fundamentally alter …

March 3, 2020

Industrial Market Reports North Carolina Southeast Southeast Market Reports

Industrial Deliveries in Charlotte Should Drop in 2020 as New Space is Absorbed

by Alex Tostado March 2, 2020

The Charlotte industrial market continues to see strong construction activity, as developers look to tap into demand for modern space. Approximately 12.7 million square feet has been delivered in the last two years, most notably in the Cabarrus County, Stateline and Airport/West submarkets. Overall construction in the pipeline jumped by 32 percent from third-quarter 2019 to fourth-quarter 2019, reaching 7.2 million square feet. As the first quarter of 2020 takes shape, this development expansion should continue, with an expected 7 million square feet of additional deliveries by year-end. Overall leasing activity in Cabarrus County was strong in 2019, with vacancy declining from 15 percent to 11 percent, which is notable given the 4 million square feet of construction seen in that submarket in the past two years. The Cabarrus County vacancy rate is set to decline significantly when two large deals, totaling more than 800,000 square feet, are factored into the statistics. Once Pactiv (441,000 square feet) and Reynolds (360,000 square feet) are incorporated into the research, the rate will decline to 5.7 percent, as we expected going into year-end. This activity will quickly tighten up the submarket and will open the door for new development. The recent high vacancy …

March 2, 2020

Market Reports Office Southeast Southeast Market Reports Tennessee

Office Demand Remains Robust in Nashville as New Projects Continue to Deliver

by Alex Tostado February 24, 2020

Perhaps there is no better way to describe the Nashville office market and its progression than to examine the recent transaction history of two of Nashville’s older generation office buildings, Fifth Third Center and Bank of America/Philips Plaza. Both of these office towers are 1980s vintage with significant renovations in the last three to four years. However, no renovation can cure some of the obsolete issues with these buildings: limited parking, inefficient floorplates and old “core” locations. Nevertheless, these buildings have enjoyed rental growth, occupancy strength and consequently excellent sales transaction history. On a more macroeconomic level, investor activity remained on the rise in 2019 as Nashville has become a global real estate investment target with Nashville being in the top 10 list of markets in Urban Land Institute and PricewaterhouseCooper’s Emerging Trends report for the past five years. Nashville’s presence on this list is supported with its business-friendly environment, population growth, growing IT workforce and appeal as a leisure and meeting destination. In 2010, Nashville’s overall office vacancy rate was 12.2 percent with its Class A rents averaging $22.41 per square foot. Today, the market’s vacancy rate is 8.4 percent with Class A rents averaging $31.20. Clearly, the Nashville …

February 24, 2020

Industrial Market Reports Southeast Southeast Market Reports Tennessee

Nashville Industrial Market is a Haven for Adaptive Reuse Opportunities

by Alex Tostado February 17, 2020

Nashville ranked as the No. 3 Market to Watch in 2020 according to Urban Land Institute and PricewaterhouseCooper’s report, Emerging Trends in Real Estate. The report credits Nashville’s population growth, investor demand, development opportunity and job growth. According to the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, 100 economic development projects — including industrial-space-users ICEE, Togo North America and A&C Business Enterprises — announced relocations or expansions in Middle Tennessee, representing $3.2 billion in investment and 14,000 jobs. Nashville’s industrial market is firing on all cylinders. Demand for space has been met with elevated rent growth throughout the market, keeping Nashville’s industrial rates among the highest in the Southeast. The 755,314 square feet of absorption that occurred during the fourth quarter marks the 23rd consecutive quarter with an increase in occupancy, raising the 2019 net absorption to over 5.5 million square feet, resulting in a market vacancy of 3.8 percent. Investor volume in Middle Tennessee exceeded $962 million in transactions at the close of 2019. This is the region’s highest industrial sale volume in the last five years, with the second half of 2019 accounting for 75 percent of the deals. Big-box users including Amazon, CEVA Logistics and Geodis have …

February 17, 2020

Newer Posts

Older Posts