Net absorption in the first half of 2014 for the Las Vegas office market is positive, by about 500,000 square feet, causing the total office vacancy rate to decline valley-wide. This market has a total office inventory of 60.7 million square feet in 3,860 buildings. About 900,000 square feet remains under construction at the end of the second quarter — about 800,000 square feet of which is speculative development. This is interesting, considering the overall market vacancy is hovering around 20 percent. Average quoted asking rental rates decreased slightly to $1.88 per square foot, per month ($22.56 per square foot annualized) on a full-service gross basis. Concessions, incentives and tenant improvement allowances to secure tenants continue to vary from project to project. The assumption that a tenant could expect to receive up to one month free rent per year of lease term may be a declining trend in the coming quarters. The newer trend is landlords completing speculative build-outs in vacant suites, though this is still not the norm. Investment sales in the first half of 2014 decreased from the previous year, with about 800,000 square feet of properties sold at an average price per square foot that was slightly …
Office
The Phoenix metro office market continues to show signs of growth and recovery despite a high level of economic uncertainty that businesses around the country are experiencing today. Besides this being an election year, there is uncertainty over healthcare costs, the regulatory environment, minimum wage, taxes, government spending, entitlement programs, political gridlock, and on and on. The Phoenix metro area has absorbed 1.1 million square feet of office space year-to-date, bringing overall vacancy down to 18.6 percent, according to Colliers. Most of the larger, contiguous office spaces that are in demand by larger companies have been absorbed. However, uncertainty has caused postponement in investment, hiring, expansion and relocation, especially for small- to medium-sized businesses. Much of the vacant office space is composed of small, noncontiguous spaces that these firms would occupy. Certain submarkets enjoy vacancy rates in the single digits. Chandler’s Price Corridor and downtown Tempe have been consistently attractive to larger office users given their amenities and concentration of technology firms, financial institutions, software developers, insurance, and many other industries and institutions. Rental rates are beginning to inch up in these submarkets as supply is absorbed and new construction begins to take shape. Excessive economic uncertainty has kept the …
Three staggering announcements highlighted downtown Chicago’s office sector during the second and early third quarter as investors jockeyed to get a piece of a market that has been the beneficiary of the tech boom. The CBD office vacancy rate is now at its lowest level in five years — 14.1 percent — aided by downtown net absorption of 592,328 square feet during the second quarter, the most in nearly seven years, according to CBRE Group. Asking rents in the city have risen 3.9 percent over the past year. There have been seven sales of more than $300 million since October 2013, including the deal that will come to define downtown Chicago for a long time to come — the disposition of 300 N. LaSalle St. to Newport Beach, Calif.-based The Irvine Company for $850 million in May. The purchase price equals $654 per square foot for the 60-story trophy tower. To put that figure into context, consider that KBS Realty Advisors LLC paid a then-record $503 per square foot for the building in 2010 to Hines Interests LP. So why did 300 N. LaSalle fetch a record price? There are a few reasons. First, the tower is 97 percent leased …
When we read or hear about economic recovery, whether it is regarding commercial real estate or a different sector of the economy, so often the perspectives and projections we hear are on a national, or even global, scale. Unfortunately, such analyses can result in a picture of the economy that seems like it was taken with a wide-angle lens. Typically, commercial real estate activity in larger cities will not be representative of tertiary markets like Springfield, Ill. The big picture can give a distorted view of the health of our local economy here in Springfield. Dr. Peter Linneman, chief economist for NAI Global, says that employment levels in America have recovered to nearly pre-recession levels and that many of the jobs created during the recovery have been semi-skilled jobs, rather than minimum-wage jobs. The jobs recovery is especially meaningful for the housing industry, and multifamily in particular. New home construction is expected to be on a gradual rise in Springfield during the next two to three years. Most everyone knows that small business is the main staple for job creation, yet government handouts and subsidies are funneled to the largest banks in America, and there the money sits instead of …
With economic improvement and job gains returning the region to its pre-recession vitality, the Southern New Hampshire office sector through mid-year 2014 has enjoyed renewed momentum. The state has nearly regained all of its jobs lost during the downturn, resulting in an unemployment rate of 4.4 percent, which is well below the current national average of 6.3 percent. At the same time, the picture has changed a bit. The hard-hit financial services sector is rebounding, although slowly, while notable expansion in business services, technology, education and health services has translated to a surge in demand for office space among diverse industries. Over the past several months, Comcast leased 147,000 square feet in Hudson; Hospital Corporation of America leased 48,000 square feet in Salem; Anthem Health of New Hampshire took 46,000 square feet in Manchester; and Citizens Bank committed to 29,418 square feet in Manchester. In Bedford, Mass Mutual committed to 18,000 square feet while engineering firm Vanasse Hangen Brustlin took 19,000 square feet. This steady activity has led to improving fundamentals across the board. The overall office vacancy rate fell to 17.6 percent during the first quarter (compared to a long-term average of 18.6 percent and a recession–prompted high of …
Apartment development is currently the driving force in downtown Cleveland’s commercial real estate market, including the conversion of office buildings to residential use and the rehabilitation of existing apartment buildings. Downtown Cleveland’s population stands at more than 12,500, an 88 percent increase since 2000, according to a first-quarter market update from the Downtown Cleveland Alliance. As a result, apartment demand is unrelenting with many properties boasting a long waiting list. The renovated Ameritrust Building that includes “The 9” Apartments is one such development that has a significant waiting list.The strong tenant demand has driven Cleveland’s apartment vacancy to below 5 percent. Corporate Relocations In response to a growing number of young professionals seeking a downtown work/live/play environment, several corporations have relocated from the suburbs to downtown Cleveland. This trend is particularly evident among high-tech companies. The list of companies growing and expanding downtown includes Dakota Software, Dwellworks, National General Insurance, OnShift, BrandMuscle and BrownFlynn. Renewed growth and demand for an efficient workplace has led to the construction of Cleveland’s first multi-tenant office building in decades, the Ernst & Young Tower. Inquiries and occupancy at the Ernst & Young Tower have been so robust that the developer, Fairmount Properties, has broken …
The Downtown Seattle office leasing market continues to be led by growing tech firms, especially Amazon.com. Amazon recently signed leases for 5th & Bell (125,000 square feet), 635 Elliott (180,000 square feet) and Blanchard Plaza (125,000 square feet with the possibility to take down the entire 250,000-square-foot property). The online retailer is also moving forward with the development of three high-rise buildings totaling 3.3 million square feet. Amazon owns additional lots for more projects in the future as needed. Other tech firms, including Zulily, Twitter, Tableau Software, Nuance Communications, Avalara, Acucela and Simply Measured, are either opening new offices or expanding rapidly. Developers are responding to this demand by moving fast to bring new projects to market. These projects include Dexter Station, 400 Fairview, Hill7 and Troy Block, which are all under construction. Trammell Crow recently announced its 1007 Stewart project, while Holland Partners is developing buildings sites one through three at Westlake Steps, and Schnitzer’s ready to begin construction on its Urban Union development. These development sites are all located in the South Lake Union area in and around the Amazon projects. This addresses the demand seen from other tech firms that want to be near Amazon and the …
Austin is maturing as a commercial real estate market. Over the past few years, the city has witnessed an increase in institutional and foreign capital attracted to Class A office assets in the metro area. Most of the new investors in Austin are capitalizing on continued rental rate growth in the office sector, but is this growth sustainable? Austin’s overall office occupancy rate and rental rates have traditionally been a series of steep peaks and valleys, but will future growth be dictated by these historical trends? Tech Bubble Bursts Leading up to the burst of “tech bubble” in 2001, office leasing in Austin was in full swing, with an occupancy rate of 93 percent. Dun & Bradstreet ranked Austin as the top city for high-tech startups in 1999, and Angelou Economic Advisors estimates that more than 200 new companies were added to Austin’s roster of technology firms in that year. Austin companies secured an estimated $740 million in venture financing in the first three quarters of 1999, more than triple the funding placed in all of 1998. The absorption witnessed leading up to this bubble was phenomenal, but the growth was inflated by the source of the rental payments. These …
Dotted with construction cranes, Minneapolis’ skyline tells the story of economic growth the likes of which hasn’t been seen in almost a decade. Record-shattering investments in office space and in employee satisfaction speak to the confidence companies have in the accelerating Twin Cities market. This renewed corporate confidence is buoyed by the lowest unemployment rate of any U.S. metro area with a population greater than 700,000, and is evident by the increasing number of long-term lease commitments (seven-plus years) to the Twin Cities market. The office sector began picking up — first with local investors and now with national investors — soon after the opening of a new baseball stadium for the Minnesota Twins in 2010, which kick-started a rash of high-end, urban multifamily developments. The current multifamily boom in the Twin Cities is expected to bring nearly 10,000 units to the residential market in the coming years. Increasingly, people want to live, work and play downtown. Multifamily, retail and office developers are ramping up the quantity and quality of supply. An additional sign of growth is the $1 billion currently being invested in a new football stadium for the Minnesota Vikings. Renovation Ramps Up Class C office buildings accounted …
Miami’s residential boom is not the only red-hot segment of South Florida real estate market. While the world’s attention may be fixated on Miami’s next crop of “starchitect”-designed condo towers and their sky-high penthouses, the city’s commercial office sector is also surging. Growing interest among domestic and multi-national tenants, coupled with diminishing supply and a lack of new office product set to deliver in the coming years, have given way to new confidence in Miami’s office market and initial talk about the need for future commercial development. This would have seemed unlikely as recently as 2010, when three new Class A office towers prepared to deliver 1.9 million square feet of new space in downtown Miami. The first of those buildings to deliver, 1450 Brickell, has been 100 percent leased and occupied since the first quarter of 2013 and is home to a number of global firms, including JPMorgan Chase, American Express, SAB Miller, H.J. Heinz Co. and BBVA Compass. The other two buildings are also experiencing positive absorption as demand for downtown Miami office space grows. This activity is taking place as Miami’s urban core emerges as an international destination for commerce, investment, residential living and travel. What was …