The industrial market’s direct vacancy in greater Reno increased by 80 basis points to 4.53 percent at the end of the third quarter of 2018. It was carried by 715,821 square feet of positive net absorption, a relatively below average figure, as well as by an increase in new deliveries. Notwithstanding, pending transactions currently underway in the fourth quarter should mitigate the increase in the market’s overall vacancy. Tenant demand in the third quarter was robust for spaces with less than 50,000 square feet. Transactions that involved Class A space accounted for 84 percent of the total gross absorption. The North Valley was the best performer of all the submarkets, resulting in a 35 percent decrease in availability. The I-80/East submarket, however, recorded a substantially negative quarter due to deliveries/new availability pushing the vacancy to 12 percent. Sublease availability was static for yet another quarter, which demonstrates stability in the market. The average transaction size in Reno decreased slightly to 53,195 square feet. Heading into the fourth quarter, the market witnessed an increase in inquiries and tours involving more than 200,000 square feet. This gave existing landlords confidence that vacancies and new deliveries will be leased in the short term. …
It’s starting to feel like the 1970s all over again in Reno’s multifamily market. This is particularly true in terms of occupancy. A recent report from RealPage noted the current market’s eye-popping 97.3 percent multifamily occupancy level. This figure was only eclipsed once, nearly four decades ago, at a double eye-popping 97.9 percent when the region experienced a spike in new jobs. Reno’s total job count continues to grow at a record pace, fueling a nearly full apartment market. But, of course, the housing and job markets in Reno are both much larger than they were in the ‘70s, though there are similarities. In fact, current market conditions bring to mind the ages-old adage, “Those who fail to heed the lessons of the past are condemned to repeat them.” Developers cannot build multifamily units fast enough to sate demand. New residents arriving for new jobs cannot easily find an apartment, and those who do may have to pay a higher-than-expected rental rate. Consider this from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Reno’s economy expanded during the four years ending in May 2018 (the latest statistics available from the Bureau) by a steady 4.2 percent. This was an enviable gain for …
The northern Nevada office market is picking up steam, despite still lagging behind the robust growth taking place in the industrial and multifamily sectors. Year-to-date net absorption of 136,607 square feet has brought overall market vacancy rates down to 10.1 percent. Rates are well below that in the more desirable office submarkets. South Reno, once plagued with vacancy rates exceeding 30 percent during the downturn, now hovers at a rate of 6.3 percent. Downtown vacancy rates currently sit at 7.9 percent with no new supply on the horizon. In fact, no significant office property has been built in downtown Reno since 1981. Reno is a market in need of new office supply; however, new office construction is challenging to build on a speculative basis except in the most amenity-rich locations that offer visibility and accessibility. The lack of incoming supply and rising demand has caused office lease rates to increase. Rates have generally remained stable over the past few years with the exception of Class A office lease rates, which have climbed steadily over the past 12 months. There is a gap between existing Class A office lease rates, which range from $2 per square foot to $2.50 per square …
The retail market in Reno/Sparks continues to improve with big box retailers moving to the market and a steady decrease in the vacancy rate. The retail market in Reno/Sparks has seen an overall decrease in vacancy for the fifth consecutive quarter with the current vacancy rate hovering just under 7 percent. Average market rent is currently $1.50 per square foot, triple net, and appears to be slowly climbing as we continue to experience positive net absorption. Tenants moving and expanding in the area include Big Lots leasing 30,112 square feet in Spanish Springs, and Harbor Freight and Tractor Supply Company leasing 16,016 square feet and 38,326 square feet, respectively, in Sparks. Sprouts Farmers Market has opened two new locations in Reno and Sparks over the past 12 months, absorbing roughly 60,000 square feet. Grocery Outlet, Tuesday Morning, Marshall’s Home Goods, Burlington and Raley’s Supermarkets have also expanded in northern Nevada. The Reno/Sparks market has seen increased activity in the finance services and fast-casual restaurant industries. New fast-casual restaurants in the area include Mod Pizza, California Pizza Kitchen, Burrito Bandito, Sizzle Pie, Pine State Biscuits and Habit Burger. Chase Bank and United Federal Credit Union have opened several locations in Northern …
One of the first questions clients ask when considering a hotel casino acquisition or the development of a new hotel casino project in Nevada is whether they have to obtain a gaming license. Since applying for a gaming license requires the disclosure of extensive, private personal information — and obtaining a gaming license can take several months — buyers and developers often want to learn about alternatives to the license. Those alternatives are briefly summarized below. Sale-Leaseback: The sale-leaseback structure involves the current hotel casino owner and/or operator selling substantially all of the assets to the buyer. The buyer, in turn, then leases all of such assets back to the seller. The seller retains the gaming assets and liabilities, utilizes the other assets per the lease and continues to operate the hotel casino for the lease term. The advantage of this structure is that the sale transaction can be closed quickly since the parties do not have to wait for the buyer to obtain its gaming license. A potential disadvantage to the seller is that it still has to operate the property. Possible disadvantages to the buyer are that the buyer assumes the future licensing risk and, generally speaking, cannot …
The Las Vegas industrial sector set records in 2017, with more new construction and higher net absorption than any other time in the market’s history. New construction was dominated by pre-leased space primarily driven by transportation and logistics companies, namely ecommerce and retail-related businesses. As a result, the overall vacancy rate decreased to the second lowest level in market history. As a percentage of overall market size, Las Vegas led the country in both new construction and net absorption. The significant momentum of 2017 did carry over to the first quarter of 2018, albeit at a relatively slower rate. New construction totaled 1.3 million square feet and net absorption lagged deliveries at a positive 1 million square feet, marking the 22nd consecutive quarter of positive net absorption. The overall direct vacancy rate in the first quarter of 2018 was 4 percent, an increase of 50 basis points over the previous quarter. This provided much-needed inventory for tenants looking to enter or expand into the Las Vegas market. While the North Las Vegas submarket dominated 2017, accounting for nearly 70 percent of total net absorption, it is the Southwest submarket that is surging in 2018 with 53 percent of net absorption …
Some of the larger companies with long-term growth forecasts are focusing on expansion and amenity-rich office environments for recruiting purposes. However, more people in less space continues to be the trend for companies with slower growth opportunities that are focused on efficiencies and overhead costs. The average standard amount of office space per employee dropped from 225 square feet per person to between 150 square feet and 175 square feet per person in the past couple years. That being said, occupancy cost is not always the main driver in choosing an office location. There seems to be much more emphasis now on quality, functionality and conveniences. In many cases, this is based more on how we work rather than just cost savings. Open work spaces, perks like on-site dining and retail, and providing collaborative environments that foster employee interaction have proven to increase employee productivity significantly. Design is a critical component of this type of work space. Companies are looking for workplace designs and furniture systems that offer flexibility and adaptability as technology evolves. Technological infrastructure enhances the culture and efficiency of a business and protects the security of a company’s trade information. It also saves resources like …
Las Vegas continues to benefit from a strong labor market, which is driving demand and strong fundamentals in the multifamily sector. Employment in Southern Nevada increased by 3.4 percent over the past year, reaching one million workers, while the total population in Southern Nevada increased 2.2 percent, surpassing more than 2.2 million people. With a well-documented shortage in housing, developers added more than 3,200 new apartment units during the year and still saw vacancies decrease 30 basis points to 5.2 percent. Part of what is driving the tremendous growth in Las Vegas is the billions of dollars in commercial developments. This includes several major resort renovations (Palms, Monte Carlo, Caesars), several new resort developments (Paradise Park, The Drew, Resorts World), and the $1 billion expansion of the Las Vegas Convention Center. There is also the $1.9 billion football stadium that is helping usher the city into a new era of professional sports. On the capital side, multifamily properties continue to be highly sought after by both private and institutional buyers. Although transaction volume slowed in the first quarter of 2018 compared to the same period a year ago, total volume was more than $350 million in the first quarter, marking …
There is a lot of buzz in the Las Vegas market a full 10 years after the Great Recession. Much of this buzz surrounds sports with the new Golden Knights hockey team; the Las Vegas Lights professional United Soccer League team; Las Vegas Aces WNBA team; and the NFL Raiders team. The new Raiders stadium is under construction now and is widely considered the most talked-about major development happening in Vegas. In a city that offers unmatched access to world-class gaming, shopping, tradeshows and conventions, the NFL coming to town creates yet another reason for people to visit Las Vegas. As you can imagine, many retailers and investors are trying to position themselves to take advantage of this entry. The overall vacancy rate for retail in the Las Vegas metro area was 8.7 percent. Rents for new developments range from $2.50 per square foot, triple-net to $4 per square foot, triple-net. Existing neighborhood centers, power centers and strip centers average $1.75 per square foot to $2.25 per square foot. Anchor and mid-box leases average $0.75 per square foot to $1.25 per square foot for both gross and triple-net-structured leases. Ground lease and build-to-suit are averaging $120,000 to $225,000 in annual …
New Mexico’s office market has held steady along with the rest of the country throughout 2017. New development in areas outside of metro Albuquerque, like the Facebook development in Los Lunas, is attracting retail- and service-related businesses. While it remains to be seen what this means to the general commercial real estate industry, it is encouraging to see increases in activity in areas where there had been little to no growth in recent years. Albuquerque, the heart of New Mexico’s office market, saw positive absorption start to increase from the past two quarters. The market is seeing organic tenant movement and, more importantly, there has been a swelling interest in Albuquerque metro areas from out-of-state companies looking for a Mountain Time Zone location that is economically attractive. Co-working spaces have gained in momentum with several cropping up since the end of 2016. New co-working spaces include Gravitate, which has expanded into two new locations near FreeRange and the new Tramway Plaza. We expect this trend to continue as the state focuses on investing in entrepreneurs and startup companies. New construction is expected to increase the overall Class A inventory over the course of 2018 and 2019. Compared to many other …