From an economic standpoint, the State of Arizona reported significant job gains for the local market in February, with Tucson’s unemployment rate improving to 6.7% from 7.3% in January. In the past year, 3,500 more jobs were added, largely in the education, leisure/hospitality and construction sectors.

Geography, cost and a new attitude. Those three ingredients have put Tucson in the national spotlight for companies looking for markets with distribution hubs, a new report shows. Tucson is one of the least expensive cities in which to operate a distribution warehouse and its proximity to key U.S. and international markets makes it attractive to companies looking to expand or relocate, says the report by The Boyd Co. Inc. of Princeton, N.J.

From Vancouver, B.C. with the lowest tracked vacancy rate to Birmingham, Alambama with the highest, Cushman & Wakefield has compiled statistics on the North American industrial markets. Where does yours stack up against the field of primarily U.S. cities and industrial markets?

Property taxes are one of the main expenses of real estate ownership in Arizona. In today’s business climate, taxes are under the microscope more than ever as property owners and managers seek ways to reduce expenses. We are fortunate that Arizona has a tax valuation appeal system. The system allows property owners or their agents to file an appeal petition for review with the purpose of lowering property tax. 

We've been in the prognostication business of late, and have gathered a great deal of data on the Tucson commercial real estate markets in one slide deck.

For the first time, C&W | PICOR Commercial Real Estate has partnered with The CoStar Group to deliver a "State of the Tucson Market" webinar, which will include perspectives from leaders of each commercial division and include the Sonora, Mexico border region. 

Even against a background of steady demand and declining vacancy, warehouse rental rates have yet to reach pre-recession levels. Although there has been a slight uptick in rents since year-end 2011, asking rents are still far from their 2008 values.

Not long ago, tsunamis and commercial real estate were part and parcel of the same discussion. While no tidal waves--positive or negative--are expected to shake the Tucson industrial market, many wish to know: After bouncing along with only incremental change, when will the tide turn?

During my Q1 2012 Industrial Market update presentation for the Pima County Real Estate Research Council, I noted the schizophrenic market we seemed to be in at the time; a market which seemed to experience large swaths of space coming available and being absorbed, with the end result being no noticeable net gain or loss.  This comment is also true today.  For example, we watched a 100,000 sf industrial building on Belvedere get absorbed in a sale transaction which included a business expansion, while several miles away the American Airlines call center was coming available.  We saw a 110,000 sf building near the airport come available as the occupant moved location and consolidated, yet we saw that building sell to a user who is planning to expand its operation, which transaction results in a reported absorption of that entire building. More recently, we’ve seen SOLON return a large chunk of its space to the market…yet the same space was put back into service by SOLON for the development of a new product line before it could be leased to a third party.

After an extensive recessionary period when ‘uncertainty’ was the ruling word, Tucson’s commercial real estate sectors have settled into a sense of stability that signals firming fundamentals and a somewhat painfully slow return to market balance. Limited meaningful job creation remains the largest hurdle to overcome, with health care uncertainty and the impending presidential and congressional elections contributing to a cautious business climate. Some meaningful growth continues in Tucson’s medical sector, with economies of scale, more favorable locations, and proximity to health care centers fostering movement.