Richmond is thriving and the office market is following suit. The office market, like the broader Richmond region, benefits from Richmond’s diverse economy, high-quality of life at a reasonable cost of living and the steadily growing, highly educated workforce. These attributes make Richmond an attractive option for large employers evaluating cities for operations. Recent entrants to Richmond include CoStar Group, ICMA-RC and Owens & Minor. The CEO of CoStar pointed to Richmond’s educated workforce, affordability and excellent quality of life as the reasons Richmond recently beat out several other Southeast U.S. cities as the new home for the company’s global research headquarters. Growth from within Richmond is also driving the market with new developments of over $1 billion in the pipeline or currently under construction from two of Richmond’s largest employers: Virginia Commonwealth University Health System and Dominion Energy. Their developments in downtown Richmond are accompanied by a wide array of creative office developments in the formerly industrial Scott’s Addition micro-market located near the convergence of Interstates 64 and 95. The city of Richmond continues to be the recipient of most new office development with suburban development being limited and mainly healthcare centric, led by Bon Secours Health System and …
The Columbus office market continues to be diverse and thriving as the city becomes an economic hub in the Midwest. With a population that has grown to over 2.1 million people, and the eighth largest millennial population, Columbus has developed varied markets including concentrations in automotive, data centers, fashion/apparel, finance/insurance, food, healthcare, logistics, manufacturing, R&D, beauty, retail/e-commerce and technology. Columbus boasts 14 Fortune 1000 headquarters and five Fortune 500 companies, including Cardinal Health, Nationwide Insurance, American Electric Power, L Brands and Big Lots. Columbus also hosts a multitude of other large businesses, which are drivers in the market, such as The Ohio State University, JPMorgan Chase and Huntington Bancshares. Having such large employers in the central Ohio region has helped draw other small businesses and given rise to a thriving start-up community, which is supported by Rev1 Ventures (a technology incubator), several community supported incubators and venture capital. A successful Columbus start-up, Cover My Meds, recently sold for $1.3 billion, and the city of Columbus hopes that this is the first of many similar success stories. With its recent sale, Cover My Meds is now planning a new 400,000-square-foot corporate headquarters in Columbus. Another notable project in Columbus is Facebook’s …
At mid-year 2018, Orlando’s economic engine is performing like a well-oiled machine, fueled by brisk business expansion, healthy in-migration, accelerating job growth and steady population gains. In fact, Orlando ranked No. 3 in the nation for population growth during the period between 2010 and 2017. Office market fundamentals remain solid with steady demand for high-quality, Class A space largely outstripping available supply, particularly in high-demand areas. Job creation continues to fuel economic growth in Orlando with a rise in non-farm employment of 46,840 over the trailing 12 months ending in May. There has been a sustained decline in the unemployment rate as well, which stood at 3 percent in May. Spec, Mixed-Use Projects Development activity has been restrained over the last several years. However, a handful of key office projects have recently broken ground in high-demand areas. The most exciting development activity is occurring in the urban core, where a number of projects are moving forward. Speculative Class A office construction is once again rising with the $100 million Church Street Plaza going vertical after a slight construction delay. SunTrust Banks Inc. recently announced plans to relocate its Orlando headquarters from the SunTrust Center building into 90,000 square feet at …
Over the past four years, Chicago’s legal sector has accounted for almost 750,000 square feet of negative net absorption despite a robust economy keeping demand for legal services of all types strong. While much has been written about large law firms shedding space as they reconfigure their offices with open floor plans that appeal to millennial and Generation Z talent, not all are following the same course of action. Finding the right size At one end of the spectrum, many large law firms are electing to relocate to ultra-efficient trophy towers, justifying the exorbitant construction costs and rent increases associated with building out new space in Class A+ towers by shedding enormous amounts of space from their footprints. Of the four firms larger than 100,000 square feet that have elected to reduce their space when relocating to newly constructed towers since 2015, all have been able to shed roughly 35.5 percent of their prior footprints on average, with some firms achieving even greater reductions. For example, Holland & Knight attained a 45 percent space reduction in its recently announced move from 105,000 square feet at Citadel Center to 57,000 square feet at 150 North Riverside. There are also many large …
Compared to Houston and Dallas, the office markets of Austin and San Antonio have a hard time competing on sheer size alone. However, these two central Texas cities are undergoing rapid changes that are leaving longtime residents amazed at the constantly morphing skylines. Both metros boast strong office markets that are growing with the entire Texas economy. But how do they match up in a head-to-head comparison? Basic Numbers At approximately 50 million square feet of office space, Austin holds a size advantage over San Antonio, which has about 30 million square feet. As of the second quarter 2018, annual full-service average office rents in Austin are also substantially higher at $36.54 per square foot compared to San Antonio’s $22.05 per square foot. Both markets have seen steady year-over-year increases in rates as the economy has recovered from the Great Recession. The familiar real estate mantra, “Location! Location! Location!” plays a big role in office rates and affordability in each market. Austin’s central business district (CBD) continues to draw major employers, including Google and Indeed, which combined occupy about 667,000 square feet of office space. This downtown migration has pushed vacancy in the CBD down to 10.1 percent, with rents …
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 …
Continued job growth, coupled with a 4.3 percent unemployment rate (down from nearly 9 percent in 2010) in the greater Baltimore metropolitan region are the primary reasons giving real estate development companies the confidence to construct speculative commercial office buildings in select submarkets throughout central Maryland. After delivering more than 1 million square feet of space in Baltimore City, another 1.6 million is presently rising in the downtown skyline. Industries including financial services, medical and healthcare, education, cybersecurity and manufacturing continue to exhibit excellent health, and a location approximately 40 miles from the center of Washington, D.C., remains one of Baltimore’s most valuable assets. Below is a quick scan around the entire metro area: Canton Merritt Properties announced plans earlier this year to construct a 20-story, 200,000-square-foot speculative office building along Boston Street. Previously announced, but yet to begin just several streets away, is Corporate Office Properties Trust’s $1 billion project containing more than 1 million square feet of commercial office and retail space. Since the opening of The Shops at Canton Crossing, a shopping center developed by 28 Walker Associates several years ago, this submarket has experienced a retail renaissance, although the inclusion of new commercial office product is …
FRISCO, TEXAS — Kansas City-based VanTrust Real Estate LLC will develop The Offices Two at Frisco Station, a 210,000-square-foot speculative office project in Frisco. Construction of the six-story building, which will be located adjacent to The Star, will begin later this month with completion slated for September 2019. Amenities will include structured parking, a fitness center, conference center and tenant lounge. HKS Inc. is serving as project architect, Manhattan Construction is the design-build contractor and Kimley Horn & Associates is the civil engineer. Cushman & Wakefield will handle marketing and leasing of the property.
Over the last decade, Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) has been consistently recognized as one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the nation, and there are no immediate signs that the growth is stagnating. Particularly in the last several years, DFW has experienced a wave of corporate relocations and expansions from a wide variety of industries. This activity has brought an assortment of valuable economic opportunities to the metroplex, resulting in a robust construction pipeline. This new product is focused on meeting the strong demand for highly amenitized, future-proofed Class A office space and embracing the high-tech connectivity that helps guard against obsolescence. Fortune 500 and other prominent companies continue to eye DFW as a top location. These users expect buildings to include not only standard amenities like fitness centers and conference rooms, but also access to the latest technology and seamless connectivity. How We Got Here In the 1980s, a major commercial construction boom in North Texas set the benchmark for Class A office buildings, which were traditionally developed without modern technology in mind. Buildings such as The Crescent, Bank of America Plaza and Fountain Place were the gold standard for office properties and served as benchmarks for quality for much …
After a sluggish start to the year, the Manhattan office market has experienced a strong rebound. In the second quarter, more than 10 million square feet of space was leased, the highest quarterly total since 2014, pushing year-to-date leasing activity to just over 17 million square feet. At mid-year 2018, there were 17 new leases exceeding 100,000 square feet and 35 new leases of more than 50,000 square feet. Although the economy has been at a peak for an unusually long time, the Manhattan office market has reached new highs. This presents an interesting exception to the norm, where real estate typically lags the economy, and it is good news for the market. Market Drivers While demand has come from a variety of sectors, the most recent top occupiers have come from the FIRE (financial services, insurance, and real estate), TAMI (technology, advertising, media and information), law firm and coworking sectors. Early in the year, the FIRE sector dominated large-block transactions. Examples include JPMorgan Chase’s 420,000-square-foot lease at the newly renovated 390 Madison Ave., and Bank of America Corp.’s 343,000-square-foot lease at 1100 Avenue of the Americas and 127,000-square-foot lease at 1114 Avenue of the Americas. This level of expansion …