Retail Survey Modified
by Laurel S. McQuenn
For 1999 the Maddux Report is making some changes in the retail survey. It will now appear twice a year - in May and November - with six months of data in each report. This report, for example, contains data from fourth quarter 1998 and first quarter 1999. To help in the transition, a separate column appears in the chart below: Net 1998 Absorption. The Net Annual Absorption column continues to report the previous four quarters of absorption.
Other changes:
We are eliminating the locator maps for individual counties. Instead, each shopping center has been assigned a grid location, which can be matched to the Focus Map (page 86). Find where the letter across the top intersects with the number at the left edge of the map for the approximate location of each shopping center. Each square on the grid equals approximately sixteen square miles.
Pinellas County has been sub-divided into three markets, instead of two. The north Pinellas market encompasses Dunedin, Palm Harbor and Tarpon Springs and constitutes the county north of Sunset Point Drive/Main Street, Safety Harbor. The mid-Pinellas market incorporates Clearwater, Largo and Seminole, and lies between Sunset Point Drive/Main Street on the north and Park/Gandy boulevards on the south. The south Pinellas market includes Pinellas Park and St. Petersburg, in fact all centers south of Park/Gandy boulevards. In computing annual trends, all previous quarterly data has been adjusted to conform to these boundaries.
Activity at the region's malls dominated the six-month period surveyed for this issue. Citrus Park Town Center opened during first quarter, adding 1.2 million sf to the region's stock of space. The new mall opened with four anchors and 120 specialty shops and restaurants. Elsewhere in Hillsborough, the 100,000-sf Saks Fifth Avenue opened at West Shore Plaza. University Center recorded 43,700 sf in new leasing. The combined vacancy at Hillsborough's six regional malls is now 1.9 percent.
In Pinellas County a new Borders Books and Music opened at the end of first quarter at Tyrone Square Mall. But on the down side, two anchors closed at Clearwater Mall, a net loss of 281,300 sf. The combined vacancy at Pinellas's eight regional malls is now 10.5 percent.
Without the impact of the new mall, Hillsborough's vacancy rate dropped .6 percentage point since third quarter 1998. Pinellas has now had three consecutive quarters of net occupancy losses. North Pinellas' annual absorption dropped 47 percent from the third quarter 1998 rate; mid-Pinellas continued a three-quarter trend of net occupancy losses; and South Pinellas' annual absorption was up nearly four times the level of the third quarter.
Sarasota moved from a net occupancy loss to a positive annual absorption level since the third quarter. The vacancy rate dropped 1.3 percentage points. Manatee's annual absorption was nearly three times the level of the third quarter.
Pasco's annual absorption dropped 29 percent since the third quarter of 1998.
Across the region a number of anchor spaces are empty, but remain under lease. This space is not reflected in the counties' regular vacancy rates. The figures in parentheses below indicate what each county's vacancy rate would be if this vacant anchor space was accounted for. The total of this space has dropped by one-third during 1998.
Hillsborough 49,900 s.f (6.7%) Sarasota 29,000 s.f. (4.4%)
Pinellas 91,350 s.f. (8.8%) Pasco 12,070 s.f. (9.3%)
Manatee 68,800 s.f. (9.1%)
Shopping centers that have been fully leased for two or more quarters do not appear in the survey charts. All shopping centers continue to be updated in the database each quarter. For a complete survey call the MADDUX REPoRT'S Research Department at 727/321-3225.
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