The industrial market had a notable year in 2014. Vacancy declined 270 basis points from the first quarter of 2014 where nearly 1 million square feet of space was absorbed. It has been more than seven years since absorption has registered similar figures. The primary factor driving last year’s success was a handful of large deals with more than 50,000 square feet. The supply of larger, quality spaces was steadily leased up throughout the year. These accounted for 54 percent, or 522,000 square feet, of absorbed space. Market velocity slowed down during the fourth quarter, driven by a lack of quality inventory. Absorption registered a positive 103,000 square feet, and was the lowest quarterly level of 2014. The centrally located North I-25 submarket outshined all other submarkets. In the biggest deal of the quarter, Flagship Foods occupied nearly 79,000 square feet of space in the North I-25 submarket. There were also nine other spaces occupied in this submarket that contributed another 60,000 square feet of absorption. A developing concern for 2015 is the significant amount of new available space being brought to market. Although still occupied, a total of 244,000 square feet of new space was added to the inventory …
The New Mexico retail market is continuing to change in a positive manner, which bodes well for property owners and businesses. There are new national, regional and local tenants looking at this market, moving in and around the shopping centers of New Mexico. New shopping centers are being built, while existing shopping centers are being redeveloped and traded. Some of the most significant transactions include Columbus Pacific acquiring Sierra Vista Shopping Center in Albuquerque and moving Stein Mart and Hobby Lobby into a former K-Mart space. Pete Daskalos Properties has also purchased Four Hills Village Shopping Center on Central and Tramway in the Southeast Heights submarket. The center now has a new movie cinema, among other changes to its anchors and tenant roster. A K-Mart building at Rio Rancho at Hilltop Plaza Shopping Center was also sold after the store vacated. The new landlord is looking to re-anchor that space as well. These big box vacancies have created redevelopment opportunities for existing shopping centers located in established trade centers while rents are increasing as the larger spaces are subdivided and leased to other tenants. This has created momentum in the market and upward pressure on asking lease rates. Other retailers …
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – West Central Plaza Shopping Center, a 123,048-square-foot retail center in Albuquerque, has sold to Heslin Holdings for $12 million. The center is located at 4208 Central Ave. SW. The property was formerly home to Kmart, which vacated the space last year. It also includes a number of smaller retail tenants in an adjacent multi-tenant building. A restaurant occupies a third building. Heslin will re-tenant the 104,000-square-foot facility vacated by Kmart. The company will likely re-configure the space to accommodate multiple tenants. The smaller buildings will also be upgraded and expanded. The seller, West Central Plaza, was represented by CBRE’s Jeremy Nelson, Lia Armstrong and Jim Dountas. The CBRE retail team was retained by Heslin to assist in the center’s leasing and redevelopment efforts. The firm made a $12-million investment in the property, which includes the costs of acquisition, redevelopment and re-tenanting, as part of a value-add investment strategy.
ALBUQUERQUE, N. MEX. — WR Management Co. has opened the new 80-room GuestHouse International Inn & Suites Albuquerque Airport. The hotel is located at 2601 Mulberry South East. The property has been recently upgraded and renovated. The hotel is situated near the University of New Mexico, Old Town Albuquerque and Albuquerque International Sunport Airport. The hotel also offers complimentary shuttles to the airport. The hotel features free wireless Internet access, complimentary hot breakfast and a kids-stay-free policy. GuestHouse International is part of the Boomerang Hotels property group.
DENVER AND ALBUQUERQUE — Gary Hines and Ray Ubieta have sold their 19 Twisters restaurants, the Twisters concept and its intellectual property to Rajiv Grover of VKC Group. The Southwestern fast-casual concept is located throughout Denver and Albuquerque. The restaurant gained notoriety when one of its locations served as the setting for “Los Pollos Hermanos,” a fictional Mexican restaurant in AMC’s Breaking Bad. The transaction was brokered by National Restaurant Brokers and its affiliate National Convenience Store Brokers.
ALBUQUERQUE, N. MEX. – TKG Group has acquired a 74,215-square-foot retail building in Albuquerque for $6.3 million. The space is located at 1100 West Main Street. TKG was represented by Joel Ledbetter of Hall and Hall. The seller, SW Juan Tabo LLC, was represented by Craig Spinks of Kidder Mathews.
ALBUQUERQUE, N. MEX. – Med Arts Plaza, a 52,735-square-foot medical office center in Albuquerque, has sold to an unnamed buyer for $6.3 million. The center is located at 801 Encino Place, near the “The Big I” interchange between Interstates 40 and 25. Med Arts includes 17 office suites, with 14 medical office users and three traditional office users. The sale was arranged by Ed Graf and Ted Sannella of Houlihan-Parnes Realtors.
ALBUQUERQUE, N. MEX. – At Home Stores has leased 87,915 square feet at Market Center Crossing in Albuquerque. The center is located at the northeast corner of Interstate 40 and Eubank. It is shadow anchored by Target. At Home will be leasing a space previously occupied by Sports Authority and Michael’s. The center is currently undergoing a redevelopment. The landlord is a partnership between Accelerated Development Services and Q Investments.
Southern New Mexico’s industrial market, specifically Dona Ana County, remained stable throughout 2013. We project solid growth in this arena for 2014. We have not seen much growth in the first quarter of 2014, though the industrial market has remained stable. Rents have also remained about the same. They have decreased in some instances as landlords compete for the few new tenants entering the market. Fortunately, Southern New Mexico has experienced an uptick as a few companies entered the market from different states, which is obviously a positive sign. A food processing company just signed a lease/purchase agreement for 40,000 square feet. This company will create 150 to 200 jobs, a significant amount for Dona Ana, which has a population of about 225,000 people. A majority of the growth has occurred in the Santa Teresa area. Union Pacific is wrapping up its 2,200-acre facility, where it has invested $500 million to create the largest intermodal inland port in the United States. Union Pacific’s Intermodal ramp, refueling and crew change station was fully operational in early April. This facility has the lift capacity to facilitate 220,000 intermodal containers annually. It will provide rail access from Mexico’s interior and Pacific Ports to …
The New Mexico office market has gained more traction and absorbed a healthy level of excess inventory this year. Vacancy fell to its lowest level in more than two years. This decline can be attributed to an absorption of vacant inventory and an increase in demand for medium-sized spaces. One of those purchases was carried out by the State of New Mexico, which acquired the 60,000-square-foot Plaza Maya, a vacant building that’s no longer competing for tenants. Downtown’s vacancy also declined when a 19,500-square-foot space was taken off the market by a new company that won the contract administering mental health services for the state. Some of the most popular office spaces seem to be in the size range of 4,000 to 25,000 square feet. The state has had more than 73,000 square feet of this kind of space absorbed recently. A new charter school in the Airport submarket accounted for about one-third of this inventory, with engineering, legal and healthcare administration service companies taking up the balance. Activity for smaller spaces of less than 4,000 square feet remained consistent with 2013 levels. This strong demand has led to larger Class A spaces being master leased by national executive suite …