Amarillo’s industrial market is truly a tale of two sectors, as some form of that expression goes, and the key number is 50,000 square feet. The occupancy rate for industrial properties in the sub-50,000-square-foot range in Amarillo remains very high, with few properties of this size sitting on the market for extended amounts of time. With such high occupancy rates, several new developments have recently sprung up. Those with both large footprints and divisible floor plans to meet the needs of smaller tenants tend to be most successful in terms of leasing velocity. In addition, developers of this product type are seeing its success and gravitating to Amarillo with spec projects. This sector of the industrial market should remain profitable for developers unless construction costs increase at a greater pace than rents can justify. The lull lies in existing properties that measure more than 50,000 square feet. In a smaller market like Amarillo, properties of this size sitting empty can be an ominous sign, and a few in particular have really come to symbolize concerns about sales of assets of this magnitude. Such properties include a 140,208-square-foot manufacturing facility previously occupied by chemicals manufacturer Techspray; a 115,000-square-foot facility formerly occupied …
