Industrial Vacancy Rises for 5th Straight Quarter

PORTLAND-There may be a lack of large, readily available industrial land for development these days, but there’s certainly no lack of available building space. Rising for the fifth straight quarter, the overall industrial vacancy rate rose to 11.8% during the first three months of the year, according to the latest report from Portland-based Norris Beggs & Simpson. The rise is due to nearly 586,636 sf being put back onto the market.

Most submarkets saw an increase in vacancy during the first three months of the year. The Southwest Sunset jumped the most, from 5% to 17%. All submarkets have seen vacancy rise from the same period one year ago. The highest jump came in the Southwest I-5 submarket, where the rate has shot from 2.9% to 13.7%.

Construction remains lively, however. In the Airport Way area workers recently got underway on the 23-acre Rivergate Corporate Center, a two-building, 488,000-sf distribution center being developed by Kennedy Associates Real Estate Counsel, which is investing $20 million in the project on behalf of Multi-Employer Property Trust, a $3 billion union trades pension fund based in Delaware.