Southeast Market Reports

Jackson’s Retail Market on Cruise Control as It Drives Into Expansion Phase

by John Nelson July 23, 2018

It’s safe to say that the Jackson MSA, as a whole, responds slower to national trends than the vast majority of markets in the United States. In regards to the economic recovery, Jackson is about two years behind the national economy post-recession. The retail market is just now moving from the recovery phase and into the expansion phase of its growth cycle, which is evidenced by decreasing vacancy rates and stabilizing lease rates. A limited amount of new construction has been a main driver for absorption in this area. There is approximately 35 million square feet of retail inventory in the Jackson MSA, with a moderate amount of new construction scheduled to deliver in the next 12 months. The first phase of expansion for the retail market is beginning to occur and is expected to gain in strength over the next 12 to 18 months. From an investment sales standpoint, Jackson has seen continued interest and stable transaction velocity from local and national retail investors in the last 12 to 24 months. As cap rates have compressed nationally, investors have continued to look to tertiary markets like Jackson in search of higher yields. The current going-in cap rate for acquisitions …

July 23, 2018

Georgia Market Reports Property Type Retail Southeast Southeast Market Reports

Tech, Film Industries Help Atlanta Sustain Retail Growth Intown and in Suburbs

by John Nelson July 16, 2018

“How long will Atlanta’s retail boom last?” That is the multibillion-dollar question everyone in the market is asking themselves. Nobody knows for sure, although there are many valid reasons to think that Atlanta will sustain its growth through 2018 and beyond. The state of Georgia has placed a strong emphasis on drawing technology companies to the state, and Atlanta’s tech boom has catapulted the city to the front of the race for Amazon’s $5 billion HQ2 project. The city already boasts the world’s busiest airport, which makes it easy for any company to relocate here because they can directly connect to anywhere in the world. Most recently, Facebook announced it will build a sprawling data center campus at Stanton Springs, about 40 miles east of Atlanta, and NCR Corp. recently opened its new headquarters campus in Midtown. The emerging tech community includes startup hubs such as Atlanta Tech Village, Switchyards Downtown Club, the upcoming Coda project at Tech Square and Advanced Technology Development Center, an affiliate of Georgia Tech. With elite local colleges like Georgia Tech, Emory University and the state’s flagship school, the University of Georgia, about 60 miles east in Athens rapidly producing new graduates, the city is …

July 16, 2018

Georgia Industrial Market Reports Property Type Southeast Southeast Market Reports

Booming Atlanta Industrial Market Continues Surge Thanks to E-Commerce

by John Nelson July 9, 2018

Atlanta is the logistics hub and economic engine of the Southeast, which is the fastest growing region in the country. Its 700 million square feet of industrial space makes it the fifth largest logistics market in the United States. Traditionally, population and job growth are key drivers of industrial demand, and Atlanta has had strong growth in each. The metro added 78,000 people in 2017, or nearly 214 new residents every day, which is reminiscent of the solid population growth of the 1990s when Atlanta averaged nearly 100,000 new residents every year. Additionally, Atlanta has had solid job growth, growing 2.5 percent last year, second only to Dallas/Fort Worth among the 12 largest metro areas in the U.S. E-commerce has caused a surge in demand for industrial space that has benefitted the Atlanta industrial market. Online retail sales now make up over 9 percent of total retail sales, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, up from 5 percent in 2012. A recent report from Cushman & Wakefield stated that while e-commerce accounted for just 5 percent of leases in 2013, it now commands over 20 percent of all warehouse leasing. As Amazon and others ramp up delivery times from two-day …

July 9, 2018

Georgia Market Reports Office Property Type Southeast Southeast Market Reports

KDC Underway on Phase II of Park Center Office Campus in Central Perimeter

by John Nelson July 2, 2018

Park Center is the largest ground-up corporate office project in metro Atlanta’s history. In early 2017, KDC broke ground on Park Center Phase II, which consists of two office towers totaling 1.1 million square feet, including approximately 40,000 square feet of retail space. The office towers will be leased by State Farm, which also leased the 21-story office tower in Phase I. Phase II of Park Center started with the implosion of the existing 240,000-square-foot, 10-story Hammond Exchange building on March 4, 2017. The remainder of 2017 was spent removing the debris from the implosion, blasting and removing over 300,000 cubic yards of rock, site grading, relocation and placement of utilities, and installation of tower cranes. In addition, construction started on the parking structure and building pad for Building 2. Several large culverts were constructed for a new road that will connect Perimeter Parkway in Dunwoody to Peachtree Dunwoody Road in Sandy Springs. Today, seven of the 11 parking levels of Building 2 have been poured, including the lobby level and vehicular-pedestrian plaza in front of it. Completion of the 660,000-square-foot, 22-story Building 2 is slated for the end of 2019. Work is also taking place on Building 3, including …

July 2, 2018

Florida Market Reports Multifamily Property Type Southeast Southeast Market Reports

Miami’s Multifamily Market Sees Prolonged Sales Activity for First Time in Years

by John Nelson June 25, 2018

Driven by the delivery of new product, the Miami multifamily market is experiencing a period of increased transaction activity. Always in high demand, but generally a thinly traded market, Miami has seen a significantly higher volume of market-rate multifamily sales in the last two years. While Miami-Dade County has maintained strong fundamentals overall, its sales volume has historically trailed nearby markets in Broward and Palm Beach counties. In 2014 and 2015, Miami saw an average total sales volume of $150 million, compared to $935 million in Broward County and $675 million in Palm Beach County. Although Miami-Dade County is home to half of South Florida’s population, it has historically accounted for just 20 percent of South Florida’s multifamily sales volume. Part of the reason is that Miami is in high demand because institutional, foreign and private investors are enamored with Miami-Dade County and want these multifamily assets in their portfolio. Likewise, each of these groups tend to hold Miami-Dade properties for extended periods of time. Further, in the early 2000s, the condo conversion trend eliminated much of Miami’s Class A rental inventory, increasing the scarcity of this type of multifamily product. In 2017, however, Miami saw over $820 million in …

June 25, 2018

Florida Industrial Market Reports Property Type Southeast Southeast Market Reports

Miami Industrial Market’s Future Hinges on Infill, Single-User Properties

by John Nelson June 18, 2018

After several years of strong absorption in leasing and robust sales volume, there’s no question that Miami’s industrial real estate market is the desired location for national tenants and institutional investors alike. But many insiders are questioning if sustaining that level of growth is possible and if there are still profitable transactions to be found. The answer is a resounding yes. There is little indication that the Miami industrial real estate market will slow down with vacancy rates hovering in the low 4 percent range. The rise of e-commerce, strong population growth and the region’s role as the gateway to Latin America all bode well for continued leasing growth and have solidified the region as a top-tier industrial real estate market. It’s been exciting to watch Miami earn a rightful place among the nation’s top brass. The keys to staying relevant in Miami’s increasingly competitive and sophisticated market are to search for opportunities that support the demand for large-scale industrial space for single-users, take a closer look at previously passed over deals, get creative about a parcel’s potential and remain focused on infill strategies. Although Miami’s growth will continue, there will likely be fewer buildings to purchase. According to the …

June 18, 2018

Florida Market Reports Office Property Type Southeast Southeast Market Reports

Miami-Dade County’s Office Market Fueled by Solid Local Economic Fundamentals

by John Nelson June 11, 2018

Driven by population and job growth, Miami-Dade County is one of the strongest and most sought-after commercial real estate markets in the Southeast. As of February 2018, the county’s unemployment rate stood at 4.7 percent, which, while only a 10-basis point decline from the rate in February 2017, represents continued positive movement. The metro’s economic stability and growing employment base are significant factors when analyzing the tightening office market. Miami-Dade County ended the first quarter with an overall office vacancy rate of 9.67 percent, a 106-basis point decline from the previous year. Also, net absorption was positive with suburban areas such as Airport/Doral, Coral Gables and South Gables/South Miami remaining primary contributors to the county’s growing office sector. The trend continued from 2017, as the year ended strong with nearly 1.5 million square feet of total net absorption countywide. As overall vacancy declines and rental rates rise, development in Miami-Dade remains active with 717,000 square feet under construction, 657,000 square feet of which is being developed within the top five most in-demand submarkets for corporate growth. Projects such as Two MiamiCentral, Giralda Place and Mary Street are redefining South Florida’s office landscape as mixed-use environments become more ubiquitous. Record-Low Vacancy …

June 11, 2018

Florida Market Reports Property Type Retail Southeast Southeast Market Reports

Retailers Get Creative as Miami is Hot, But Available Space is Not

by John Nelson June 4, 2018

The Miami retail market is healthy, expanding and not showing signs of a slowdown. At more than 2.8 million people with an average household income of nearly $70,000, demand for more retail continues throughout Miami-Dade County. The submarkets of Aventura, North Miami, Coconut Grove, Kendall and Pinecrest, as well as the urban core submarkets of Brickell, Midtown and Wynwood, reflect this with low vacancy rates and increasing rents. Most of the new construction projects underway or recently delivered are in the form of mixed-use projects, both within Miami’s urban core and in well-established submarkets such as Coral Gables, Doral and the Design District. The bad news? Miami is landlocked between the Atlantic Ocean and the Everglades, limiting space for traditional retail development and retailer footprints. But here’s where it gets interesting, and promising — instead of abandoning the market, developers and retailers in Miami-Dade County are simply getting creative with the limited dirt available. Building Density Because of the scarcity of land and its high price per-acre, density is the top priority, resulting in a surge of vertical, mixed-use developments with structured parking. For instance, Brickell City Centre demonstrates that if developers want critical mass, sometimes the only way to …

June 4, 2018

Florida Market Reports Office Property Type Southeast Southeast Market Reports

Tampa Bay’s Office Market is Evolving with New Spec Construction on the Horizon

by John Nelson May 28, 2018

Economic growth in Tampa Bay continues at an impressive pace, driven by strong population and employment growth over the past several years. The unemployment rate has steadily declined, dropping 110 basis points from December 2016 to a current 3.4 percent, and the strong pace of job growth continues with a rise in non-farm employment of 35,000 new jobs during the trailing 12-month period ending December 2017. As a result, leasing activity has increased, rental rates continue to show incremental growth and there is a strong likelihood of new speculative office construction in the coming year. Major corporations continue to reaffirm their confidence in Tampa with significant announcements of planned corporate expansions by MetLife, Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC), AAA and USAA during the second half of 2017. In fact, the Tampa Bay metropolitan area ranked as one of the top 20 “U.S. Markets to Watch” for overall real estate prospects in the Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2018 report published by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Urban Land Institute. Investment Activity Many investors who in years past were seeking opportunities in gateway markets are now turning their attention to secondary markets like the Tampa Bay area in search of higher yields. There were several …

May 28, 2018

Market Reports Property Type Restaurant Retail Southeast Market Reports

Diverse Population, UAB Help Retail, Restaurants Expand in Birmingham

by John Nelson May 21, 2018

It wasn’t until the last five to seven years that college graduates started looking at Birmingham as a place to live and work. Cities like Nashville and Atlanta were getting too expensive and too congested. Upon discovering how progressive Birmingham has become with the revitalization of the downtown area, it became the new hot place to live, play and work. So what was once an untapped market has started to grow with new retailers and restaurants to meet the growing demand. The addition of Topgolf to downtown Birmingham, for example, would not have happened without the influx of new multifamily projects in the downtown/southside area. Birmingham has also seen a growth of new restaurants to the area because of the diversity of population. The number of medical and undergraduates students studying at the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) Medical complex has contributed to the diversity. As such, restaurants and retailers that cater to this diversity have begun to open in the area. The Pizitz Food Hall is a prime example as it includes two restaurants and 12 food stalls serving cuisines from all over the world, including Italian, Israeli, Ethiopian, Japanese, Vietnamese, Indian and traditional Southern soul food like fried chicken …

May 21, 2018

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