Report: Region's retail, industrial markets going strong - Birmingham Business Journal:

sucujovide.wordpress.com
But an annual repor t released recentlyby Inc. shows the area's retail and industrial real estate markets were on the rise in with strong occupancy rates and competitive rental rates. The report showes a nearly 90 percent occupancy rate for the retail sectorlast year, a more than 86 percent occupancyu rate for the industrial sector and a 93 percent occupancy rate in the office market. Overall, the retail market absorbed nearly 1.7 million square feet, with more than 900,000 of that beingh absorbed in thefourth quarter. That's a marked difference from 2006, whicg had more than 206,000 square feet of negativee absorption. Weighted average rental rates were $13.532 per square foot.
EGS's report attributes most of retail's surgd in 2007 to four major projects in developmen t or opened during the year byin Alabaster, Trussville and McCalla. The areas with the most notable occupancy spikes compared to 2006 were the Highway 31 South whichjumped 6.6 percent in occupancy to 95.3 and the Eastwood/Irondale submarket, which jumped 4.4 percent to 72.3 percent occupancy. But occupancyu rates in retail drive the market very saidHugo Isom, principal at in Birminghaj and president of the . In retail, spacr that fits one store may not fit another retailer, he said, so it's more obvious whicy areas have vacancy issues.
For example, the newlyu redeveloped EastwoodVillage "is a terrifixc shot in the arm, but it left a majorr vacancy in Irondale when moved he said. "And may not be happy in a Wal-Mart Isom said the general health of the nationaol retail market looks grim because retailers are closely watching the economy andmovint carefully, but that may not be the case in with the city now saturated in retail with Colonial'zs projects. Developers now will begin to look toward the core ofthe city, to possibly redevelop older buildings and shoppinbg centers, he said.
In the industrial sector, EGS's report showe d Birmingham enjoyed a moderate pace of growtghlast year, with a positive absorptiomn of more than 315,000 squar e feet, all of whicjh was in bulk distribution. The Oxmoor Valley submarkeft sawa 4.3 percent jump in occupancy, with a nearlhy 118,000-square-foot absorption, and the Southern and Southwesterhn submarkets combined had a 5 percent increas e in occupancy and a nearly 148,000-square-foot Weighted average rental rates were up to $4.432 per square foot from $4.19 in 2006.
And whilew 2007 saw no major relocation of companies into theindustrial sector, the firstg three months of 2008 proves it will continue to Already this year, said it will build a large distributiobn center, will expand into the former Inc. headquarters and distribution site and EGS plans to develop a larg speculative industrial building inShelby County. But whilw the inventory of buildingswis stable, the number of industrial sites is dwindling as more companies commit to buildd rather than lease, said Jim Searcy, vice president at the .
"Mosy of the people we talk to are looking for a buildingg of aspecific size," he "But just through the process of finding the perfect building, they find there'zs no such thing and that it's betteer to build what they need." Searcy predicts more moderates growth through 2008 in the industrial with some speculative construction.