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Metro Area Industrial Market Quiet, For Now

ATLANTA-Leasing has been quiet and absorption is down but market experts are predicting the industrial market to improve next year.

By Gina Kenny | Updated on December 06, 2007

ATLANTA-The metro industrial market has been quiet of late but market experts expect it to weather the storm. “The market is still in good shape,” says Wit Truitt, senior vice president with CB Richard Ellis. And insiders expect the market to remain a tenants’ market. “In 2008, it will probably still be a tenant’s market but probably not as strong,” says Dave Watson, senior vice president with Grubb & Ellis.

Leasing activity and absorption declined for the third quarter although there were a few large deals such as Dick’s Sporting Goods signing a 657,200-sf lease in the Camp Creek Business Center and LG Electronics signing a 612,000-sf lease at Greenwood Industrial Park, as previously reported by GlobeSt.com. Companies and firms held off on leases and buying, and are expected to do so this quarter as well, as an indirect effect of the capital markets problems, Watson says.

Absorption was lackluster “due to the overall market and economic conditions in the area,” Truitt says. Absorption is still up for the year and could pick up in the fourth quarter, Truitt says. “We still have 11 million sf or 12 million sf [of absorption] for the year,” he says. “That is a decent number for Atlanta.” Watson expects the fourth quarter to be quiet in regards to leasing activity. It is possible there will still be some big leases this quarter but it is already the beginning of December and “it is going to start getting pretty dead,” he says. Activity is expected to pick up after the first of the year although Truitt expects it to take a little longer than Watson. “It will probably be slower towards the first half; hopefully, picking up in the third or fourth quarter,” Truitt says.

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