News
READY TO ROCK
June 7, 2011
| "Transitioning"—that's how CBRE's John Wilhide characterized the outlook for 2011 this morning at our first-ever Baltimore Industrial Real Estate Summit at the Hyatt Regency. The good news: that sets us up for future growth. | |
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| The manufacturing sector has led the national recovery, John says, although employment continues to struggle. There were 195 industrial sales transactions in Q1 (averaging around $68/SF), and John thinks cap rate compression is stabilizing. There's little new construction locally, mostly because market fundamentals have yet to justify building spec (as well as infrastructure issues and environment-related costs due to our proximity to the Chesapeake Bay). And the Port of Baltimore? John says ships taking an extra day to traverse the Bay puts it at a disadvantage to Norfolk, but the harbor's deep water channels and large terminals mean it's still an attractive option (especially once the Panama Canal widening finishes, opening the way for larger ships). | |
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| Prologis east region investment head Mark Levy says the Lehigh Valley/I-78 Corridor in Pennsylvania has benefited from difficult a business environment in central New Jersey. Cecil and Harford Counties haven't, which he thinks is because tenants don't want to be north of the Ft. McHenry Tunnel for labor and other reasons. (He also says some see Maryland as unfriendly to business.) Activity from retail support tenants is spiking in the B-W Corridor, Mark says, and there's very little land in that market available for new development. As such, he expects a bump in redevelopments of existing properties. Prologis has been focused on de-leveraging its portfolio by raising capital through the equity markets and selling assets, and Mark says look for a wave of property dispositions this year from other REITs looking to do the same. You also might've heard about a merger ProLogis did with a little company called AMB. | |
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| Over 200 of you packed the Hyatt. Was it for the coffee or the market insight? Or schmoozing? Or all three? | |
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| Liberty Property Trust's Lisa Sullivan says her company is going spec in central Pennsylvania (it just won approvals for a 1.2M SF building in Bethlehem and a 900k SF building in Carlyle). Third-party logistics providers have generated lots of demand in many of the major markets, she says. Liberty has over 3M SF of LEED industrial buildings nationally, but Lisa says it's also focused on delivering operating expense savings to tenants by getting buildings Energy Star certified. ?Transportation and labor are the biggest costs for 3PLs,? she says, ?so if you can deliver them 5% in real estate savings through more energy efficient space, it goes directly to their bottom line.? LEED Certified buildings typically only cost an extra $0.50/SF to $1.50/SF for new construction, she says. | |
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| Our wonderful moderator, Reznick Group's Rick Schaefer, here with Transwestern's Tom Gentner. Tom says he thinks we'll enter expansion in 2013, with deal volume picking up later this year. Why? Over 75% of the traffic coming through the B-W Corridor from the Lehigh Valley is destined for the DC metro, which Tom says will continue to generate strong demand. | |
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| We also snapped new Transwestern Mid-Atlantic prez Eric Mockler with Dewberry's Mike Snyder, who tells us he's seeing more investor interest in land sales. Banks are beginning to move land and other assets off their books, Mike says, and in many areas, raw and entitled land values have plummeted. Eric thinks that's why pretend-and-extend has been a net positive, allowing rent and vacancy to bounce back (although he does say it'll have to end sooner or later). | |
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| Margaret McFarland, director of the University of Maryland?s Colvin Institute of Real Estate Development, explained how the institute enhances and supports the Master of Real Estate Development program at the university: It gives over 100 real estate students various collaborative and real-world opportunities like attending RE events (like ours), joining local and national competitions, embarking on study abroad programs, and participating in sponsored research programs (to name a few). We appreciate Margaret making us a part of the learning experience! Learn more on the Colvin Institute here. |
