Office

Strong Demand, Record Rents Drive Office Investment, Development in Philadelphia

by Taylor Williams September 11, 2019

Robust employment and population growth are fueling Philadelphia’s renaissance and propelling the region’s office sector to new heights. The lack of new office construction over the past decade has driven rents to record levels and is creating value-add acquisition opportunities throughout the region. With a tight labor market and talent acquisition at a premium, companies want to lease state-of-the-art workspaces that attract future employees. Key features of these spaces include access to public transit and surrounding retail and restaurant options. Limited availabilities within this product type are driving rents for quality space, as well as the development pipeline for new office buildings. However, after years of little construction, several proposed office buildings in both downtown and the suburbs are close to breaking ground and creating the next crop of new office inventory for the region. Record Rents In the second quarter of 2019, average asking rents for office properties in downtown Philadelphia hit a record $31.33 per square foot, a 20 percent increase over the past five years. This growth has been driven by out-of-town investors acquiring buildings and raising rents, as well as by growing demand for downtown office space, both from new in-bound demand and organic growth from …

September 11, 2019

Market Reports Office Texas Texas Market Reports

Dallas Office Market Grows Its Share of Tech Firms

by Taylor Williams August 27, 2019

While Austin is the Texas city that has become most synonymous with a tech-heavy office market over the last decade, the remarkable amount of overall job growth in the metroplex is allowing Dallas to slowly grab a larger piece of the tech pie. While some of the fastest-growing tech firms in the market right now — Google, Facebook, Indeed — have committed to larger office footprints in Austin, many of these firms still retain offices in Dallas due to its strong supply of qualified labor and relatively cheaper cost of doing business. However, in addition to having offices in Dallas, these firms have contributed to commercial real estate growth in the metroplex through build-to-suit data center developments and large colocation leases with established data center operators in the market. Facebook’s $1 billion data center development in Fort Worth is among the largest in the country, and construction recently began on Google’s $600 million data center campus in the southern suburb of Midlothian. IBM SoftLayer, Rackspace, and LinkedIn are other examples of technology firms taking large data center leases in the Dallas metroplex, North America’s third-largest data center market, according to 2019 figures from DataCenter Hawk. Outside of the context of …

August 27, 2019

Market Reports North Carolina Office Southeast Southeast Market Reports

Banking, Tech Employment Usher Charlotte’s Office Market Into the Future

by Taylor Williams August 20, 2019

The momentum of the Charlotte office market continued in the first quarter of 2019, as office rents rose for an eighth consecutive quarter and the city notched a major economic development win with the announcement that BB&T and SunTrust would merge, creating a new bank that will be headquartered in Charlotte. The news came on the heels of announcements late last year that Honeywell plans to relocate its corporate headquarters to the city and that LendingTree would expand its headquarters, creating 436 jobs over five years. The city’s economic strength has been fueled by a growing labor market that was led by the tech sector in 2018. Last fall, CompTIA’s 2018 Tech Town Index found that Charlotte is the No. 1 city for information technology workers when it comes to job opportunity and cost of living. At the time of the report, more than 44,000 IT jobs had been posted in Charlotte over the previous 12 months. That number is projected to grow by 11 percent over the next five years as Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and Ally Financial look to fill IT jobs at all levels. Office rental rates in Charlotte increased by 6.5 percent …

August 20, 2019

Arizona Market Reports Office Western Western Market Reports

Phoenix Earns Spotlight on National Stage Among Office Users

by Taylor Williams August 16, 2019

Greater Phoenix has re-cast itself in this real estate cycle. It is no longer expected to play the “boom-to-bust” role in the office sector. The metro area has definitely expanded its breadth of industries, reaching beyond homebuilding and professional services to now feature some of the country’s leading insurance corporations, technology companies and medical innovators. This diversification promises to buffer any future fall in nationwide economic activity. Greater Phoenix continues to lead the country in job creation, adding an estimated 66,500 net new jobs between May 2018 and May 2019, marking a 3.2 percent increase. These jobs are coming from companies like Carvana, AllState and WageWorks. Phoenix has benefitted from great exposure from in the national media, which has matriculated to corporate America and attracted broad attention. The Greater Phoenix MSA boasts a phenomenal combination of attractive cost of living, growing wages and an enviable lifestyle. This package of appealing factors has allowed Phoenix to garner more than its fair share of corporate expansions and relocations throughout the Western U.S. Demand has been strong for office space in the area. However, a diminishing availability of quality, speculative space is creating a battle for the tenants. Sizable users wanting signature spaces …

August 16, 2019

Market Reports New York Northeast Market Reports Office

Manhattan’s Office Market Thrives as Top-Tier Tenants Flock to Midtown

by Taylor Williams August 7, 2019

Driven by activity in the office sector, commercial real estate in Manhattan is having one of its best years on record. The overwhelming demand for Manhattan office space has led to a surge in office-using employment and an accelerated pace of construction. In addition, the success and appeal of the new Hudson Yards project has breathed new life into the borough’s office market, with developers unable to keep up with the demand. The continued expansion in the technology and coworking sectors is reshaping the market. Companies are willing to pay a premium to snag office space that attracts top-tier, tech-savvy talent. This trend has caused office asking rents to rise to record levels. By The Numbers CBRE data shows that average asking rents for Midtown Manhattan office space reached $88 per square foot in the second quarter of 2019, 9.1 percent higher than the previous year. Class A office space commands even more, surpassing the $100 per square foot mark in desirable submarkets like Hudson Yards, Times Square or the Plaza District. The Midtown vacancy rate decreased 10 basis points to 12.2 percent, the lowest in 18 years, according to CBRE, while the past quarter saw 14.7 million square feet …

August 7, 2019

Market Reports Office Washington Western Western Market Reports

Lack of New Office Supply Pushes Large Users to Tertiary Puget Sound Markets

by Taylor Williams August 2, 2019

A decade ago, the Seattle office market was still reeling from the effects of the global recession. Total downtown vacancy had reached 14.9 percent with nearly every submarket from the Central Business District (CBD) to Lake Union experiencing some form of negative absorption. Total vacancy today is slightly more than half of what it was back then, hovering at around 7.7 percent. This is despite the total net rentable area growing by more than 11 million square feet. Seattle has also shifted from largely being considered a secondary market to one of the leading real estate hubs in the nation, thanks to consistent talent and demand from the engineering, aerospace and technology industries. Seattle currently ranks second behind San Francisco in our annual Scoring Tech Talent report. And yet, while our extensive growth has been a benefit to the office market, a new problem has cropped up in the face of this progress: availability. The rise of coworking, as well as the surplus of partial floor spaces, has been a benefit to smaller companies in the midst of early stage growth and expansion. In fact, there are more than 700 options in Downtown Seattle for smaller tenants, primarily under 15,000 …

August 2, 2019

Market Reports Office Texas Texas Market Reports

As Users Flock to Quality Space, Houston Office Owners Focus on “Ecosystems”

by Taylor Williams July 26, 2019

If industry professionals, particularly developers and landlords, don’t make educated attempts to understand the mindsets of their tenants, they have little hope of advancing the dialogue and ultimately furthering their understanding of tenant decision-making. Take the Houston office market, for example, and its inventory of approximately 330 million square feet, according to CoStar Group. This market has experienced rising vacancy and declining rents throughout the four-year oil slump, but continues to see strong tenant demand in the Class A space. To this end, CoStar reports that there are still nearly 3 million square feet of new office projects under construction throughout metro Houston, the vast majority of which is Class A product. The high proportion of Class A deliveries is partially attributable to rising land and construction costs that mandate heftier rent projections. But still, there’s no question that Houston’s growth in certain employment sectors — healthcare, technology, financial services — ensures that many of the jobs being created in the city need to be paired with high-quality office space. Understanding and explaining the actions of the thousands of companies that commit to millions of square feet of office space is a case-by-case endeavor. But as markets of this size …

July 26, 2019

Market Reports Office Oregon Western Western Market Reports

Office Expansion Continues in Portland for 10th Consecutive Year

by Taylor Williams July 26, 2019

Consistent investment trends, a steady demand for tenants, stable in-migration and several new additions to the skyline have provided Portland with a strong first half of 2019. With more than 100,000 square feet of positive net absorption this year, the Portland office market shook off any lingering negative sentiment from 2018 and started the year strong. Portland has built a reputation as a second outpost to cities like Seattle and the Bay Area. Companies tend to initially set up small offices before quickly realizing Portland is a viable alternative to other larger hubs. In-migration remains strong but the major growth the market has experienced recently has been from homegrown companies ramping up or expanding their operations. We’re continuing to see office rents grow at almost 12 percent year over year. Portland office rents average $32.12 per square foot, making them nearly 60 percent cheaper than San Francisco and 25 percent cheaper than Seattle. The city is also well situated to attract companies that are being priced out of primary markets but still need to be geographically close. When you layer on our cost of living and high quality of life, Portland becomes even more attractive, which also contributes to its …

July 26, 2019

Market Reports Midwest Midwest Market Reports Office Ohio

Various Submarkets Attract Cincinnati Office Tenants

by Kristin Harlow July 18, 2019

Over the past decade, Cincinnati has successfully positioned itself as a formidable Midwestern city, hungry for growth and innovation. Whether you’re a startup or a Fortune 500 company, the city (and its surrounding suburbs) can provide an attractive backdrop. The Cincinnati office market largely reflects this momentum. Demand in some areas has slowed, but the office market remains steady. In fact, the office market has experienced a flurry of activity in 2019 and is awash in new lease transactions and announcements of proposed new development. The first quarter of 2019 recorded a 1 percent drop in the entire market vacancy to 14.2 percent, according to Colliers International. The central business district (CBD)’s 12.2 percent vacancy is expected to drop another percentage point, as several pending leases are soon to be announced. I-71 North dominates The most active area is the I-71 North submarket, where five lease transactions came to fruition. Eversana leased 78,000 square feet at 8990 Duke Blvd., filling the former Express Scripts building just months after it went vacant. Worldpay took down 50,000 square feet at 8845 Governor’s Hill Drive across the street from its headquarters. Smith/Halleman Partners, the owner of the multi-building Governors Pointe, attracted Resurgent Capital …

July 18, 2019

Connecticut Industrial Market Reports Northeast Northeast Market Reports Office

Industrial, Office Investment Demand Rises in Westchester, Fairfield Counties

by Taylor Williams July 17, 2019

The investment markets for office, industrial and flex properties in Westchester and Fairfield counties have seen significant activity over the last 12 months. Both debt and equity capital have been flowing into the urban and suburban areas of the counties, demonstrating that these submarkets are viable alternatives to New York City. This year has witnessed one of the largest transactions to ever take place in Westchester and Fairfield counties since we have been recording statistics. This past spring, HFF sold a portfolio of 52 industrial flex assets in multiple parks in both Westchester and Fairfield counties for $488 million, or $167 per square foot. The demand was very strong for these industrial assets, and the buyer pool spanned from private groups to some of the largest money managers in the world. In addition, cap rates are in the 4.25 to 4.85 percent range for more traditional industrial product. Cap pricing is absolutely on track to surpass $200 per square foot, as there is a lack of available land for development and institutional funds’ continue to display an insatiable appetite for the product type. Consequently, these kinds of deals continue to dominate the conversations and market activity. Office Market Interest …

July 17, 2019

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