Office

New Mexico’s office market has held steady along with the rest of the country throughout 2017. New development in areas outside of metro Albuquerque, like the Facebook development in Los Lunas, is attracting retail- and service-related businesses.  While it remains to be seen what this means to the general commercial real estate industry, it is encouraging to see increases in activity in areas where there had been little to no growth in recent years. Albuquerque, the heart of New Mexico’s office market, saw positive absorption start to increase from the past two quarters. The market is seeing organic tenant movement and, more importantly, there has been a swelling interest in Albuquerque metro areas from out-of-state companies looking for a Mountain Time Zone location that is economically attractive. Co-working spaces have gained in momentum with several cropping up since the end of 2016. New co-working spaces include Gravitate, which has expanded into two new locations near FreeRange and the new Tramway Plaza. We expect this trend to continue as the state focuses on investing in entrepreneurs and startup companies. New construction is expected to increase the overall Class A inventory over the course of 2018 and 2019. Compared to many other …

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U.S. economic growth in 2018 is expected to be the strongest in three years. The steady momentum in the Cleveland office market fully supports this forecast. Overall vacancy rates in the Cleveland metro area align with national trends in the range of 12 to 14 percent, rental rates are increasing modestly with averages in the low $20s per square foot and the market for Class A office space continues to be very tight. Tenant improvement allowances offered by landlords are rising faster than rents in a competitive leasing environment, ranging from $20 to $60 per square foot. Larger, multi-floor blocks of quality space are becoming especially difficult to come by in both the central business district (CBD) as well as the suburbs, making new office construction projects more viable than in the past.   Attraction, retention  When it comes to attracting the best and brightest workforce, office occupiers are seeking vibrant, walkable locations, rich with amenities and character. Building owners and developers in the Cleveland CBD continue to introduce office conversion projects that bring more apartments downtown, helping in turn to strengthen the office market. The K&D Group is currently converting a portion of the iconic 52-story Terminal Tower to …

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Companies looking to attract and retain talent are now offering top amenities, a modern office space and a healthy work environment with a sense of community. Employees are a company’s most vital asset, and firms are willing to pay a higher rate for office space if it provides a place that employees want to work. One of the trends this year in commercial office space is enhancing the work environment. According to a recent Pew Research Center analysis, millennials have become the largest generation in the U.S. workforce. To attract today’s workers, office users must offer an overabundance of amenities. Companies are now providing gaming lounges that include video games, foosball, air hockey and darts. They are also offering napping rooms, coffee shops with baristas and even onsite bars with wine and craft beer on tap. This type of atmosphere enhances employee interaction and provides the employee a place to relax while at work. Technology allows employees to be more efficient, but it will never replace the connection that happens with face-to-face conversations. Companies are looking to create an atmosphere where employees can collaborate throughout the workday, which in turn has a positive effect on worker productivity. The key to …

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In early 2017, real estate professionals in West Texas began to see a noticeable boost in demand for industrial properties across the Permian Basin. In keeping with economic tradition, demand for space in the Midland office market is now catching up to the industrial sector after a 12- to 18-month lag period. The beginning of 2018 is when Midland’s office market really began to gain steam, riding not only a surge in oil prices but also a 2.4 percent unemployment rate, which is more than a full percentage point below both the state and national averages. Several larger users entered the market at this time while some existing tenants, including Cimarex and Southwest Royalties, began looking for larger spaces. As of May 2018, the office occupancy rate had reached approximately 92 percent after wavering between 80 and 85 percent for much of the oil downturn. Average rents for office space are currently standing at about $22 per square foot for Class A space and $19 per square foot for Class B space. With approximately 6 million square feet of product, Midland’s office market is the unquestionable hub of the downstream side of the West Texas energy business. Any company with …

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Denver’s office market has been riding a wave of expansion, entering its ninth straight year of growth, with net absorption totaling 186,826 square feet in the first quarter of 2018. While vacancy ticked up — ending at 15.9 percent, up from 15.1 percent in the prior quarter and from 14.6 percent one year ago — it is expected to fall over the next several quarters as tenants continue to absorb space in both new and existing buildings. The Denver office market’s impressive expansion has lasted 33 consecutive quarters, resulting in a total of 9.7 million square feet of absorption, 7.4 million square feet of new deliveries and a 409-basis-point plunge in vacancy. The majority of the 9.7 million square feet absorbed between the first quarter of 2010 and the first quarter of 2018 occurred in three key submarkets. This included the Southeast Suburban (SES), Downtown and Northwest (NW) markets, which recorded 3.3 million, 2.9 million and 1.3 million square feet of absorption, respectively. The Downtown market ended the quarter with absorption of 214,317 square feet, and Class A median asking rates were up 39.5 percent from year-end 2009 to $39.76 per square foot.  Asking rates in some of the newest …

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The office sector in Rhode Island’s commercial real estate market has seen a strong carryover and positive momentum from 2017, into 2018, which we continue to enjoy today. The market has seen positive absorption in most areas and with little speculative development on the horizon, lease rates are being affected accordingly. It’s safe to say, it is no longer a Tenant’s market. In Providence, vacancy rates are hovering in the 12 percent range, down from 16.5 percent just a few years ago. Recent projects include the redevelopment of South Street Landing, a $230 million dollar renovation of the former Narragansett Electric power station which is now home to the URI/CCRI Nursing School as well as some of the administrative offices of Brown University. Just a block away, construction is  underway for the 191,000-square-foot Providence Innovation Center. This will be occupied by the Brown University School of Professional Studies, Johnson & Johnson and the Cambridge Innovation Center. The redevelopment of 75 Fountain Street, a 160,000-square-foot building, once fully occupied by the Providence Journal, has also enjoyed positive absorption. The redevelopment by Nordblom Company and Cornish Associates has attracted companies such as Tufts Healthcare, GE Digital and Virgin Pulse to join the Providence …

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Over the last 15 years, the office market of Fort Worth, as well as that of the metroplex as a whole, has experienced steady growth in both development and absorption of new product. DFW’s office vacancy rate currently sits at 15 percent, according to CoStar Group, indicating the ceiling for new growth has not yet been hit. The traditional drivers of job and population growth have fueled new construction and strong leasing velocity for office properties in Dallas. But in Fort Worth, particularly the downtown area, the growth is more visibly tied to the live-work-play trend embodied by millennials and other young members of the workforce. The health of Fort Worth’s multifamily, restaurant and hotel markets are all contributing to the growth of the office sector. Office developers consider a number of factors when constructing new space. But much like any project, location is key. As Fort Worth’s need for more housing, dining and hotels has grown, the walkability factor in the office sector has only increased in importance. As such, it’s not only the employees that are drawn to properties that are located within walking distance to residential buildings and entertainment destinations. Developers are also coveting these sites. Entertainment …

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The most exciting story in Michigan’s overall recovery from the Great Recession has been the revitalization of downtown Detroit. For locals and out-of-towners, Detroit’s development boom is surprising, exciting, refreshing, and at times, hard to believe. This real estate cycle may go down as the most important and consequential in 50 years. Indeed, the numbers and the anecdotal evidence demonstrate that we are not just witnessing a hot market — we are witnessing a once-in-a-generation shift in Detroit’s office market. Where we were What makes Detroit’s renaissance so amazing is how far the city has come in just eight years. For decades, downtown Detroit’s office market was effectively in the Detroit River. The central business district (CBD) continuously bled tenants to suburban markets, and heavy concessions along with incentives were required to lure office users to the city. Office tenants tended to be law firms, city, county and federal government agencies, non-profits, and city contractors — generally users that had to be downtown for proximity to the courts and City Hall. While the real estate statistics were not strong, the larger issue was the overall look and feel of the setting. Many buildings sat ominously vacant, the restaurant scene was …

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Park Center is the largest ground-up corporate office project in metro Atlanta’s history. In early 2017, KDC broke ground on Park Center Phase II, which consists of two office towers totaling 1.1 million square feet, including approximately 40,000 square feet of retail space. The office towers will be leased by State Farm, which also leased the 21-story office tower in Phase I. Phase II of Park Center started with the implosion of the existing 240,000-square-foot, 10-story Hammond Exchange building on March 4, 2017. The remainder of 2017 was spent removing the debris from the implosion, blasting and removing over 300,000 cubic yards of rock, site grading, relocation and placement of utilities, and installation of tower cranes. In addition, construction started on the parking structure and building pad for Building 2. Several large culverts were constructed for a new road that will connect Perimeter Parkway in Dunwoody to Peachtree Dunwoody Road in Sandy Springs. Today, seven of the 11 parking levels of Building 2 have been poured, including the lobby level and vehicular-pedestrian plaza in front of it. Completion of the 660,000-square-foot, 22-story Building 2 is slated for the end of 2019. Work is also taking place on Building 3, including …

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The Inland Empire office market got off to a slow start in 2018, continuing a trend of positive momentum with little excitement. The average asking rent registered $1.81 per square foot, down 3.7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2017 and $0.01 below the first quarter of 2017. Preliminary sales and lease volumes are off 39.1 percent over the prior year. However, the Inland Empire is seeing one of the lowest vacancy rates since 2007, with more than 108,000 square feet of new construction added to the market this quarter. As of the first quarter of 2018, vacancy was 7.9 percent, down 30 basis points over the quarter and 90 basis points below last year at this time. Nine projects totaling 201,671 square feet are under construction, with the largest being Rady Children’s Medical Plaza at 60,000 square feet. Much of the new growth in the office sector is being driven by the healthcare industry. Office medical space comprised more than half of the space under construction, as the education and health services sector employment has grown by 4 percent between January 2017 and January 2018. This has accounted for 8,800 of the 13,500 new jobs in the office-occupying sectors. …

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