DETROIT—Industrial properties in the Detroit area have seen a lot of leasing activity recently, and out-of-town investors are definitely paying attention. New York-based Time Equities Inc. recently bought Airport Park, a 670,000 square foot industrial complex adjacent to Detroit Metro Airport in suburban Romulus, from First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc., and has just brought on JLL to handle leasing duties. Properties change hands all the time, but these moves may portend a significant shift in the market.

"This property is a bellwether of sorts for the industrial market around the airport," JLL managing director Larry Emmons tells GlobeSt.com, as it contains a broad sampling of about 60 tenants in 23 buildings. "We have got tenants that you have never heard of, but we also have United Parcel Service." He handled the sale for First Industrial and will spearhead the new leasing effort while senior vice president John Cullen will oversee property management.

"We consider it a very good sign whenever out-of-town private equity firms are interested," he adds. "We had multiple offers on this property, and that shows the new blood and energy that is coming here." 

The current tenants already occupy about 94% of Airport Park, putting the development at or near the average for the overall market. In the third quarter, overall vacancy for the metro area fell 50 bps to 6.7%, a 20-year low, as more than 2.5 million square feet were absorbed, according to a recent report by Newmark Grubb Knight Frank. And although the vacancy rate can't sink much further, Emmons believes rental increases are on the way throughout the airport submarket and the rest of the region. 

"In the last five years, things have improved a lot in Detroit," Emmons says, "and they have improved exponentially in the past couple of years. But we have not had any significant new development done on a speculative basis," at least since just before the recession.

Developers do have more projects underway than at any time since 2003, according to NGKF, but these are primarily build-to-suits. Active projects now total 23 with over 3.3 million square feet. By mid-2016, developers will have added more than one million square feet of new inventory to the market. 

Crown Enterprises is building one of the largest new facilities, a 500,000 square foot distribution facility on the city's east side for Universal Truckload Services. And Stuart Frankel Development Co. is putting up a 300,000 square foot facility at 12600 Oakland Park Blvd. Android will occupy half of this facility.

But Emmons believes developers will soon show the greatest mark of confidence in the market by launching spec projects. "2016 will be the year."