The multi-family and industrial team produced the top sale and lease transactions last week at C&W | PICOR. Allan Mendelsberg, Principal, and Conrad Joey Martinez recently sold an apartment property near the University of Arizona. Across the border, Jose Dabdoub, Industrial Specialist, represented the tenant during the lease of a warehouse distribution center in Mexico.
In Q2 2021, Tucson industrial and flex space of all types remained the darling during tumultuous pandemic times and for the foreseeable future. E-commerce and expanded consumer buying power drove logistics and fulfillment demand and a 5.5% vacancy rate in the market.
Supply in the Tucson industrial market remains stable, with only one new industrial project under construction. We do hear of numerous proposed industrial developments in the region with 5,000-10,000 square foot (sf) bays. We expect supply of small-bay industrial (under 5,000 sf) to remain consistent until rents grow by 35%-50%.
The Tucson industrial market remained strong at midyear, as evidenced by our primary metric: Vacancy rate. Once again, vacancy has ticked-down, this time to 5.1%. Echoing the comments last quarter, Tucson is experiencing a “plateau effect” in the industrial sector in that the dynamic run-up in absorption slowed as the market leveled off at a highly-occupied equilibrium.
Smaller scale manufacturing operations (1,000-5,000 SF) seem to be opening up shop and gaining momentum faster than ever. Why is this happening? I think the cost of manufacturing machines has come down and because of the strong economy, entrepreneurs have the spirit and the capital to start a manufacturing operation or grow their business with existing cash or lines of credit. Also, the cost of[…]
“Wow! What a great time to be in Industrial real estate!” These are sentiments not heard in almost a decade. During the depths of the doldrums, the Tucson commercial real estate market was marked by Foreclosures and REO sales, “blend and extend” lease negotiations, downsizing (or “rightsizing” as it was more positively termed) and a general sense of survival.
Absorption of Tucson industrial space continued during the first quarter of 2018, with 57,423 square feet (sf) of positive net absorption for the quarter. This reduced the overall vacancy rate to 6.3% in the 42.9 million square foot (msf) inventory of industrial buildings.
Tucson’s industrial market continued forward progress in the first quarter of 2017. Net positive absorption of about 50,000 square feet (SF) improved the overall vacancy rate to 7.4%, Tucson’s lowest mark since Q3 2008. The submarket with both the lowest vacancy and the largest inventory at nearly 10 million SF, was Northwest Tucson, with a vacancy rate of 4.3%.
With accelerating improvement in vacancy from 9.2% to 7.8% year-over-year, Tucson’s industrial market reported the strongest annual gain since 2006 and the lowest vacancy mark since Q3 2008. With occupancy above 92% and no speculative space under construction, the market will experience upward movement in rents. Rent pressure has already occurred for spaces 5,000 square feet (SF) and under. Net[…]
Positive momentum accelerated in the Tucson industrial market during the second quarter, with vacancy improving to 8.6% on positive net absorption of 252,815 square feet (SF). After peaking at 13.4% 3Q 2011, market-wide vacancy improved to its lowest post-recession level, not reporting a sub-9.0% rate since 2008. Many projects reached full occupancy, with multi-tenant inventory inconsistently[…]