No Sign of Retail Apocalypse in Sight as Grocers, Restaurants Help Richmond Thrive

If you mention the phrase “retail apocalypse” to anyone in the Richmond market, you will immediately receive a puzzled look back. The Richmond retail market is about as far away from a retail apocalypse as any market in the country. Yes, we have seen the Toys ‘R’ Us, Sears, Macy’s and Kmart closures, but with close to 83 million square feet of retail space in the Richmond MSA, the current retail vacancy rate is below 5 percent. The vacancy rate is at, or near, a record low and demand …

November 5, 2018Market Reports, Retail, Southeast, Southeast Market Reports, Virginia

Richmond’s Office Market Grows in Prominence as Corporate-Friendly Destination

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 …

October 29, 2018Market Reports, Office, Southeast, Southeast Market Reports, Virginia

Industrial Buyers, Developers Attracted to Richmond as Users Expand Locally

While there has been a strong demand for investment properties in Richmond, there remains a limited availability of both freestanding facilities and portfolio deals.In recent investment activity, the Byrd Corporate Park in eastern Henrico County sold to a joint venture between Dreyfuss Investments and Wells Holding Group for $31.3 million after previously transferring in 2011 for $26.3 million. The 10-building flex complex spans 475,783 square feet and was 80 percent leased at the time for …

October 22, 2018Industrial, Market Reports, Southeast, Southeast Market Reports, Virginia

National Retail Trends of Grocery Expansion, Backfilling Vacant Stores Evident in Hampton Roads

December of this year will mark the 30th anniversary of the movie “Wall Street” and the introduction of the antihero, Gordon Gekko. In that movie, Gordon delivers the iconic “Greed is Good” speech to the shareholders of a besieged paper company.While things in the end did not turn out well for Gekko due in large part to his greed, the undertones of that speech are uncontentious: Performance and adaptation will come about when there are strong incentives to evolve. The evolutionary …

January 15, 2018Market Reports, Retail, Southeast, Southeast Market Reports, Virginia

New Grocers, Redevelopments Invigorate Richmond’s Retail Market

The Richmond retail market continues to be strong. Overall vacancy rates are slightly higher than usual, hovering around 7 percent with negative absorption, due to all types of new products coming online in the first half of 2017. The market is adding millennials at double the pace of any other generation and has been recently named in multiple media outlets as one of the top living destinations for millennials nationwide.With this influx, multifamily development in Richmond is robust, …

October 23, 2017Market Reports, Retail, Southeast, Southeast Market Reports, Virginia

Office Users Gravitate to Richmond CBD Following Surge in Out-of-Market Activity

Over the past 12 months, a surge in out-of-market activity has stabilized Richmond’s downtown office market, which had faced a seemingly insurmountable glut of space just last year. For years, Richmond’s Central Business District (CBD) struggled to retain tenants as many sought more affordable locations in the suburbs, while other tenants shed space as they optimized their footprints.However, with a steady flow of high-profile inbound operations into Richmond’s CBD, the momentum has …

October 16, 2017Market Reports, Office, Southeast, Southeast Market Reports, Virginia

Richmond Market Entering New Era of Industrial Development

At the mid-year mark, the Richmond industrial market has continued to strengthen, closing with an overall occupancy rate of 91 percent in the categories being tracked — Class A, B and C vacant and investor-owned product with a minimum of 40,000 square feet of total rentable building area (RBA). Class A occupancy decreased slightly from 96 percent at the end of the first quarter to 95 percent at the end of the second quarter, and Class B occupancy has remained steady at 92 percent.The …

October 9, 2017Industrial, Market Reports, Southeast, Southeast Market Reports, Virginia

22 Capital Partners Launches 2.5 MSF, $500M Gramercy District Mixed-Use Project Near Washington, D.C.

CHANTILLY, VA. — 22 Capital Partners has announced plans to build the $500 million Gramercy District, a “smart city” mixed-use project in Chantilly, just outside of Washington, D.C. The 2.5-million-square-foot development will include apartments, retail, hotels, offices, outdoor plazas and public spaces.Phase I of Gramercy District will include a 268-unit apartment building, 25,800 square feet of ground-floor retail space and 25,000 square feet of open plaza space for pop-up retail …

August 22, 2016Multifamily, Southeast, Top Stories, Virginia

The Meridian Group Acquires International Place Office Building Near D.C. for $106.5M

ROSSLYN, VA. — The Meridian Group has acquired International Place, a 293,539-square-foot office building in Rosslyn, for $106.5 million. Beacon Capital Partners sold the building, which is located at 1735 N. Lynn St. in an area of Northern Virginia that sits directly across the Potomac River from Georgetown.International Place is across from the Rosslyn Metro station, which contains Blue, Orange and Silver lines and is only one stop away from Washington, D.C. The Pentagon, Reagan …

June 27, 2016Office, Southeast, Top Stories, Virginia

Hampton Roads Gains Attention From National Upscale Retailers

Millennials are the largest and fastest-growing retail consumer segment in the nation. In Hampton Roads, this demographic represents 30 percent of a total population in excess of 1.7 million people. This tech-savvy and largely transient group spends approximately $3.4 billion on retail and dining every year in the local economy. It is widely acknowledged that Millennials are changing the retail industry. Developers and retailers alike, faced with rapidly changing spending patterns, more than …

March 14, 2016Market Reports, Retail, Southeast, Southeast Market Reports, Virginia