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THE REGION’S OFFICE ACTIVITY FOR 12 MONTHS has gone
negative for the first time in the 24 years the MADDUX BUSINESS REPORT has been publishing. It’s down by almost 300,000 sf. That’s because Hillsborough and Pinellas counties are each in the red by about 300,000 sf. The other four counties are in the black for the same period.
This period and the previous two have suffered the region’s lowest
annualized volumes we’ve ever reported. The region has shifted
from job gains of 40,000 to 50,000 a year to a loss of 15,000
to 20,000 jobs this year. That’s a tremendous
swing in momentum. Thus the
impact on office space.
Hardest hit in Hillsborough has been what’s called Class B
space – that occupancy is off by 471,250 sf for the 12 months.
Meantime, the Class A occupancy is up a comparatively healthy
170,420 sf. Pinellas on the other hand is down in both Class A and
B space, by 146,000 sf and 157,000 sf, respectively.
Meanwhile, Sarasota County is the region’s strongest market
with a 12-month volume of just over 150,000 sf. Most of the activity
is in the I-75 Corridor.
Pasco is in its strongest position in four years. Almost all of this
quarter’s activity was at Trinity in the county’s southwest corner. The
county’s vacancy rate shrank by nearly four points, although it’s still
the region’s greatest at 27.9 percent.
Pinellas, after three quarters of losses, finally saw some positive
activity, especially in the Countryside and downtown St. Petersburg
markets. Downtown benefited from filling medical space in a new
building attached to Bayfront Medical Center. Most of Countryside’s
activity was at Prestige Place.
Back to Hillsborough, the region’s largest office market has
endured three consecutive quarters of net losses. Through the years,
the county experienced other 12-month periods of loss, but this one
is the deepest. In Westshore, construction was completed on Tri-
Pointe Plaza and Cypress Bay Corporate Center II, adding 68,000 sf
to the inventory with 72 percent available. Along the I-75 Corridor,
construction was completed on Intellicenter at Tampa Telecom Park
– 200,000 sf with nothing leased; and construction began in that
park on the 88,000-sf Parc Centre. Leases expired on three already
empty buildings, totalling nearly 200,000 sf.
Manatee County is treading water with a negligible volume,
both quarterly and annual.
Polk County’s 12-month volume dropped by 81 percent from
last period. It experienced its first quarterly loss in three years, a
modest 17,800 sf.
The region has over 540,000 sf of sublease space available.
Factoring that into the market’s vacancy rate pushes it up one point
to 18.3 percent. And, nearly a half million sf of space is coming
available in the next 12 months.
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