"Based on absorption and momentum that has occurred at the park, we see pretty much every deal in the marketplace," says Tom Talbot, the Grubb & Ellis broker with the leasing assignment at Southshore. "We've had some interest in the building and there are some good prospects, but nothing concrete at this time, nothing that makes us feel confident that it will be filled anytime soon."
Still, there has been some absorption as of late, says Talbot, rattling off eight warehouse leases that have been signed in the last 60 days -- two on Airport Way, two in Milwaukie, and one each in Beaverton, Tigard, Wilsonville and Swan Island -- all for spaces between 40,000 sf and 50,000 sf. The deals no doubt were made at rental rates lower than they've been the past year or two, but the fact that there's been 400,000 sf of activity is nothing to scoff at.
"That's pretty good activity," says Talbot. "I'm not sure what it means, but the fact that there are transactions being completed and filling previously vacant space is a very good sign for industrial landlords and owners in general."
As far as users expected to close deals in the next 60 days, the only one of significance being talked about is Ford, which has been on the hunt for more than 200,000-sf of warehouse space. At the moment, the company is said to be negotiating a possible lease within the 500,000-sf A&M Warehouse on North Ramsey in Rivergate.
The building is owned by Investco and is master leased by the company that bought the assets of A&M, which went bankrupt fairly recently and vacated its portion of the space. The largest current tenant is 800.com, currently in 150,000 sf, but they, too, are looking to sublease some of their space.
Talbot wouldn't confirm the information about Ford, saying it wasn't his deal to talk about, and Andy Kangas of CB Richard Ellis, whose deal it would be to talk about, also declined to confirm the talk, but did confirm that he is marketing approximately 250,000 sf of sublease shell space in the warehouse at $0.35 per sf per month (NNN). He also acknowledged the dearth of activity in the marketplace.
"There was a beginning of the year flurry, but if you are sitting on big spaces, the market is still extremely thin," says Kangas. "I don't get a sense whatsoever that we are out of the woods, there are still more bankruptcies and closures (on the way)."
Gary Randles, an industrial broker with Cushman & Wakefield, acknowledges there's "no hope of a quick turnaround, people are just too cautious." Still, he says, "we see definite signs of improvement from the third and fourth quarter, and if you have a required need, it's a good time to be in the market.
Continue Reading for Free
Register and gain access to:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
