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Yet again, Tampa Bay’s business parks, suffered through one
of their worst quarters ever. And the downward spiral continues to be led by Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, contributing to 82 percent and 30 percent of the region’s net loss, respectively. That means some counties had a net gain this quarter, which Pasco and Polk did, with Polk enjoying its best quarter in the last six. As if you need more signs of the market’s condition, we can find only 10,000 sf under construction in the region today (Hernando
County). A year ago, 386,400 sf was under construction;
two years ago, 1.6-million sf.
Polk County, with a gain of 70,700 sf, not only recorded its
best quarter in the last six, it’s also the best quarterly activity
in the last five for all the counties (except for one period in
Pinellas). Polk’s 12-month rate improved by
nearly two-thirds from last period.
Hillsborough’s decline of 318,860 sf this
quarter is exceeded by only two others, a couple of periods
way back in 1991. It now has suffered seven straight quarterly
drops. West of I-275, a 200,000-sf building at Hanna Distribution
Center emptied out, handing this submarket its biggest
quarterly drop in eight years. Large losses of 20,000 sf or more
also hurt three other locations. The vacancy rate jumped 1.5
points to the submarket’s highest level since 1993.
East of I-275, large losses were absorbed at seven locations,
but several of these were previously empty spaces that the
leases ran out on, which we now are reporting. Three locations
enjoyed large gains.
Pinellas’ first-quarter decline of 115,650 sf is the county’s
greatest in 14 periods. Meanwhile, Pinellas has suffered a
decline in five of the last six quarters. Large losses were noted
at six locations with only one large gain as a partial offset.
Gateway had the lion’s share of the county’s dropoff.
Manatee experienced two large move-ins and three large
move-outs, netting a loss similar to last quarter’s. The vacancy
rate moved up by 1.0 point.
Sarasota’s quarterly loss was the smallest around the region.
However, its annual volume worsened by 22 percent because
this quarter’s loss replaced a slight gain from a year ago. The
county’s vacancy rate moved up by 1.3 points as two vacant
buildings were added to the survey.
Pasco this period experienced its second straight gain. As a
result the 12-month volume is now only a loss of less than 5,000
sf. But the vacancy rate is still the region’s highest at 20.0 percent,
despite a slight dip this quarter.
Hernando reported no activity for the quarter. Nonetheless,
it continues to enjoy the region’s smallest vacancy rate at 1.5
percent.
Moreoever, Hernando’s volume over the past two years – a
positive 313,600 sf – is greater than any other of Tampa Bay’s
counties. A distant second is Pasco (+73,500) followed by Polk
(+46,600). The other four counties each declined over these
two years – Sarasota (-20,800); Pinellas (-98,900); Manatee
(-221,200); and Hillsborough (-1.1-million).
Vacant Big Box Space in Shopping Centers |
| Hillsborough |
571,230 sf |
|
Pinellas |
462,700 sf |
| Manatee |
162,520 sf |
|
Sarasota |
379,150 sf |
| Pasco |
420,550 sf |
|
REGION |
1,996,150 sf |
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