Owners, investors and developers are bullish about the Phoenix industrial market – and for good reason. We occupy one of the most strategic supply chain locations in the West – a sweet spot between West Coast ports, manufacturing in Mexico, and alongside truck and rail routes leading product into the heart of the nation. Add to this Governor Ducey’s mandate to grow Arizona’s trade volume with Mexico by 20 percent per year – not to mention Mexico itself being on the verge of becoming the world’s largest manufacturer – and you have a Phoenix market entering a new era of long-term growth. This has expanded our already robust industrial construction industry, where design-build is hot and will likely stay that way, thanks to the 8 million square feet to 10 million square feet of industrial requirements seriously considering Arizona for their location solutions. For energy-centric companies with high employee head counts in particular, Arizona offers as much as a 30 percent to 40 percent savings proposition over higher-cost Tier 1 markets. The West Valley has welcomed 10 million square feet of larger build-to-suit corporate projects looking for specialized footprints and visibility along I-10 in the past three years. These include …
Miami, the “Gateway to Latin America and the Caribbean,” boasts one of the strongest industrial markets in the nation, with over 200 million square feet of industrial space serving one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the United States. Stronger-than-average population and employment growth count among the region’s chief demand drivers, along with robust international trade, a booming housing market and a globally acclaimed tourism industry. South Florida’s population is expected to grow by 100,000 people annually over the next five years, while the region also has the fourth-highest job growth rate in the nation. As a result, demand for housing and consumer goods is rising, creating a very dynamic industrial development, leasing and sales environment. Significant and ongoing investment in South Florida’s seaports, airports and intermodal transportation infrastructure is giving investors and businesses confidence in the long-term growth of the region. On the infrastructure front, there is the highly publicized, $2 billion expansion of PortMiami, one of the busiest ports in the U.S. for container traffic. The project includes a deep dredge, the addition of several post-Panamax gantry cranes, an intermodal/freight rail linkage, and a new truck/freight tunnel. Once completed this year, PortMiami will be the only port south …
It’s safe to say that the Rio Grande Valley, now also referred to as Rio South Texas, is one of the most dynamic and fastest growing regions in the state. The four-county region at the southernmost tip of Texas bordering Mexico and hugging the Gulf of Mexico consists of Hidalgo, Cameron, Starr and Willacy counties. With nine ports of entry, five international airports, a first-class deep water port, a population of over 1.2 million and three interstates, it is easy to see why the Rio Grande Valley is one of the largest trade corridors in the world. Growth in all aspects, including retail, office, medical, education, industrial and housing, brought nearly $700 million in construction permits for all of 2014. Retail Sales tax revenue being sent back to the cities continues to increase at a healthy pace. Walmart’s opening of 12 new stores in the region affirms the positive growth and the confidence in the valley. The impact a Super Walmart has is evident with a city’s sales tax revenue. Two new stores in Donna and Elsa increased local sales tax revenue 14 percent and 57 percent, respectively. Retail sales in the region continue to rise, showing the strength of …
South Carolina continues to see a manufacturing renaissance, after back-to-back record years of manufacturing investment totaling $10 billion in 2013 and 2014. All signs suggest that 2015 will be just as promising. The Midlands region has benefitted from this investment and is poised to take off in 2015. As the market has heated up, the Midlands region of South Carolina has the most to offer in the way of product for new and expanding companies. Yes, in 2015 vacancy is a good thing! As the upstate and low country markets have become alarmingly tight on viable manufacturing space, the Midlands region offers up an array of high-quality industrial product that is move-in ready. Data for the first quarter of 2015 shows significant improvements in the Midlands market with investments, job creation and construction activity. Major companies, including Brazil-based Inbra Industrias Quimicas, Red Bone Alley Foods, Avantrech and Wire Mesh Cos., have all made multi-million dollar investments in new or expanded facilities, and there is also increased build-to-suit and speculative construction across the region. There has also been a growth in leasing, as manufacturers pursue existing facilities that can meet the demands for advanced manufacturing but with significant cost savings over …
Hawaii is one of – if not the – top-performing industrial market in the country. The city and county of Honolulu, which contains Hawaii’s main shipping port, had a low vacancy rate of 2.05 percent at the end of the first quarter. This vacancy rate peaked at 4.8 percent in 2009. Significant gains have been made since then. The direct weighted average asking net rental rate for industrial users in Honolulu was $13.80 per square foot (NNN) at the end of the first quarter, while operating expenses ran an additional $5.16 per square foot, per year on top of that. Having bottomed out after the downturn in 2009 at $11.20 per square foot, the Honolulu market has gained almost 24 percent since then. Land values have also followed suit. Hawaii is definitely not Chicago or Los Angeles. In fact, both of those markets have individual industrial parks greater in size than the entire Hawaii marketplace, at 39 million square feet. Having said this, Hawaii is in the midst of a construction and tourism boom, with billions of dollars being allocated to urban core renewal projects, light rail, resort renovations and new residential developments. Up until recently, this renewal had occurred …
The Dallas/Fort Worth industrial market is one of the biggest and most strategically important in North America. With an inventory of more than 500 million square feet of warehouse and distribution space, the DFW industrial market serves a metro area of 6.8 million people and a larger region that stretches to Mexico. More than 70 percent of goods exported to Mexico roll through the metro area, and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has been a huge driver of those exports. These days, the industrial market is buoyed by a local economy that is outpacing most of the nation’s major metros. In March, Dallas/Fort Worth registered an unemployment rate of 4 percent, compared to 5.9 percent in Atlanta, 6 percent in New York, 6.4 percent in Chicago and 6.6 percent in Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The GDP also grew by a healthy 2.2 percent in 2014. Dallas/Fort Worth’s economic momentum has heightened demand for industrial space. The first quarter of 2015 marked the 18th consecutive quarter of positive absorption, according to CBRE. The DFW industrial market has been among the top five markets in absorption over the past several years, and this impressive …
The industrial market in Los Angeles County is extremely tight and shows no signs of letting up as the trend for conversion of industrial property to creative office space by tech and media industries is very prevalent. Many industrial property owners either sell their assets and realize major equity gains with the new buyer planning a conversion, or choose to convert it to creative office themselves, garnering two to four times the rental rate for creative space. The vacancy rate of 3.2 percent in the first quarter of 2015 was parallel to that of the last quarter of 2014. To give some perspective, the downward trend of industrial vacancy has continued since the second quarter of 2013 when vacancy posted at a 5 percent rate. Additionally, the majority of larger industrial development in the region is build-to-suit product, which has virtually no impact on vacancy. The Downtown Los Angeles industrial market continues this trend of industrial property conversion to creative office. The Arts District is ground zero for this. While the rejuvenation and gentrification of Downtown is a welcome sight, the industrial users are now having to relocate, seeking other spaces throughout the LA basin. Many of these users are …
The South Dallas industrial submarket has emerged and is here to stay. As one of the hottest up-and-coming industrial submarkets, South Dallas has all the components to continue to thrive for the foreseeable future. For the last five years, South Dallas has been a basin for major industrial development. Located south of downtown, the well-positioned submarket provides several key logistical advantages. The convergence of several major arteries makes South Dallas an ideal distribution market, and the ability to import, store and export goods, particularly from Mexico, California and the Port of Houston, greatly benefits the area. Supply can easily move along I-20 or I-35 while avoiding some of the worst congestion of the DFW Metroplex. This infrastructure, coupled with intermodal access, allows for a faster and more efficient transport of goods. Additionally, unlike the other major industrial submarkets, South Dallas contains an abundance of land at favorable pricing. Since early 2010, South Dallas has dominated the market in terms of new construction. It has been the fastest growing submarket, accounting for over 25 percent of the total delivered construction in the entire Metroplex in the last five years. Historically, South Dallas has been considered a big box market. The latest …
Chicago’s 1.2 billion-square-foot industrial market has weathered the Great Recession and is now showing strong growth through expansion of the region’s traditional boundaries and by way of redevelopment in land-locked areas. At the center of this trend is O’Hare International Airport — sixth in the nation and 17th in the world in air cargo tonnage. All totaled, the O’Hare industrial submarket contains 103 million square foot of product. Since the vacancy rate peaked at approximately 13 percent in 2010, the O’Hare industrial submarket has rebounded in a big way. In fact, the submarket has recorded positive absorption every year since 2011. The vacancy rate fell to 7 percent in 2014 due to an improving economy and the aggressive deal making of the larger industrial owners such as Prologis, KTR and Hamilton Partners. Development Ramps Up Shrinking vacancy rates and a lack of available Class A logistics facilities led to the delivery of multiple speculative developments in 2014. These projects were the first built since 2007. Panattoni completed 208,000 square feet at 1925 Busse Road in Elk Grove Village and leased the entire facility to CEVA Logistics. The project was subsequently sold to AEW Capital Management at a record-setting cap rate …
The Atlanta industrial market is in the beginning stages of its third growth cycle since 1990. Vacancy has declined over the past 18 quarters, and asking rates have seen a positive trend over the same time period, increasing by 14.9 percent. These improving metrics should come as no surprise to those familiar with the history of Atlanta’s industrial market. Although the Atlanta metro is the nation’s ninth-largest metropolitan area, its industrial market represents the fourth-largest by volume. Total vacant space in the market has fallen to a 13-year low 8.7 percent, meaning the metro is once again poised for industrial expansion. Cycles One, Two and Three Atlanta’s growth cycle in the 1990s lasted just under 8 years, from 1994 until 2002, where 135 million square feet of new product was added to the market. That constitutes almost a quarter of the total 549 million square feet in the metro today. Total vacancy had fallen to 9.2 percent in the middle of 1994 and asking rates hit what was then an all-time high of $3.26 per square foot. These factors triggered a 40 percent rise in construction volume. As this cycle closed in 2001, vacancy rose back above 10 percent in …