News
3 Important Industrial Insights
August 22, 2012
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| We asked C&W EVP Jim Dieter, who’s an expert in pretty much every major industrial property market in the country, about how Philly and the surrounding markets stack up these days compared to other markets.1. When the Lehigh Valley, Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania are combined, their total industrial market is excess of 215M SF. Jim calls the region one of the most dynamic industrial markets in the country, seeing growth for several years now. The market has an overall vacancy rate of 9.1%, which is down substantially from this time last year. The region is a “big box” market, so much so that some of the largest leased projects in the country are there, rivaling even the Southern California market. |
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| 2. Illustrating this dynamic in the region are some recent megadeals, such as Crayola taking 800k SF, Quidsi leasing a large distribution facility in excess of 600k SF, and Ceva Logistics, which absorbed a 600k SF building in the Lehigh Valley. There are numerous large spec projects going up, such as a building under construction for the Unilever company in excess of 1.3M SF.3. The Philadelphia market isn’t quite as dynamic as the regional market, but still showing good positive fundamentals. Philly’s vacancy rate has declined from 2011 mid-year mark of 7.3% to 6.4%. In a market of 270M SF, that shows good absorption, Jim says. |
