MONTERREY, MEXICO-As violence wracks most towns in Mexico, including this affluent business city, there is still commercial real estate activity. Recently, Home Depot and Banco del Bajio, a local bank, relocated headquarters offices here in transactions totaling about 105,000 square feet.
Jones Lang LaSalle secured nearly 70,000 square feet at Offices on the Green on behalf of Home Depot for the relocation of its headquarters in the country. The retailer operates 60 stores in the country. The company currently operates its Mexican headquarters out of San Pedro Garza Garcia, Mexico.
Banco del Bajio has secured nearly 35,000 square feet in the newly developed Torre IXCO for its new regional headquarters. JLL also has space in this building.
Javier Llaca, Angel Zuniga, Guillermo Osio and Juan Pablo Benitez with JLL handled the transactions on behalf of JLL. Llaca, an EVP, tells GlobeSt.com that just four years ago, the office vacancy rate in Monterrey was at 3%, pushing developers to build new properties. The recession hit the country hard, however, and the vacancy rate is now more around 20%.
“We saw late last year and early this year that users are shopping for space again, and developers are open to concessions,” Llaca says. “We’re currently working on four other transactions for close to 200,000 square feet.”
He says he believes the media reports on the dangers in the area are somewhat overblown, even with the 52 people killed Aug. 25 in a deliberately set fire at a local casino. “Perception is a little different than reality,” Llaca says. “We are seeing some relocations driven by security concerns. I think the federal government is doing what it needs to do.”
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