COLUMBUS—The sudden onset of the recession left many recently-developed industrial buildings across the Midwest vacant. Experts say landlords need to get these spaces filled before serious talk about new development can begin. And Columbus is just the latest metro area to erase many of these vacancies and set the stage for expansion.
As recently reported in GlobeSt.com, the Opus Group, for example, just signed Seattle-based SK Food Group for the remaining 180,000-square-feet of space at the 496,000-square-foot Opus Business Center at Rickenbacker 7 in suburban Groveport. Union Supply Company, Inc., signed a long-term lease agreement for 315,534-square-feet in the building back in 2011.
“That was the last building we did at the Opus Business Center,” Douglas J. Swain, vice president and general manager of Opus Development Company, LLC, tells GlobeSt.com. “We finished it just before the recession, and then the building sat vacant for several years.” The center totals about 3.6-million-square-feet.
The industrial real estate markets in cities like Chicago recovered some time ago. For example, last August, GlobeSt.com reported that Integrated Merchandising Systems had just signed a 314,249-square-foot lease at 10100 58th Place in Kenosha, WI, finally filling up a building constructed on the cusp of the recession.
Furthermore, the vacancy rate in Southeast Wisconsin had plunged to just 5.34%. And last week, GlobeSt.com reported that developers have now either proposed or have under construction nearly 2-million-square-feet of speculative industrial space in the area, which has become the Chicago region's hottest industrial market.
“Columbus has been a bit slower to come around than some of the other Midwest markets,” says Swain. Still, “the industrial market strengthened considerably in the last 12 to 24 months, but especially in the last 6 months.”
According to a recent report by JLL, the Columbus market now has a 7.0% industrial vacancy rate, an all-time low.
“It has created an environment where the development of new modern bulk space makes sense,” Swain says.
He would not divulge details about the company's plans. However, he did say that Opus “has a site of about 30 acres near Rickenbacker 7 that would work well and is consistent with modern bulk distribution space. It's certainly something we are considering.”
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Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
