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KANSAS CITY—Last month, GlobeSt.com reported that Amazon had just agreed to occupy the 822,000 square foot Inland Port XIV, this region's largest speculative industrial building, a strong indication that the market was ready to take off. And now that the first quarter numbers are in, it is apparent the metro area will need a few more deals of similar size.

Cushman & Wakefield has just issued a market report on Kansas City, and found that new industrial construction is continuing at a rapid rate throughout the metro area. In the first quarter of 2016, 2.4 million square feet of newly delivered space caused the vacancy rate to jump from 7.37% to 8.10%, despite 783,000 square feet of absorption.

“The current belief is construction will continue at this pace until there is a clear slowdown,” Michael Mayer, C&W's market leader. “There are more buildings planned for Executive Park, LPKC, Lenexa Logistics Park, Northland Park, and other parts of the city. Until there is a significant bump in the road, the general sense is this pace of construction will continue. By “bump in the road” I mean buildings sitting there empty in multiple parts of the market for nine to twelve months.”