» Office is coming back, albeit slowly. Real estate firm research arms differ on the extent of the comeback.
» Altamonte Springs and the tourist corridorare doing better than Lake Mary.
» Orlando job growthtends toward the tourism industry, and it takes awhile for growth in that sector to translate into more office jobs.
» Verizon’s new 220,000-sq.-ft. office projectbroke ground this year in Lake Mary.
» Construction begins this quarter on the Golf Channel’s new gateway structure at its expanded headquarters — a total of 163,000 square feet — at Sand Lake West in south Orlando, says CBRE. To the extent there is new office construction,it’s for such single-tenant users.
» CNL Center I and II at City Commonshas asking rates of $30 per square foot, a level not seen since before the recession.
» In sales, Stiles Realty’s Orlando office and Divaris Real Estate sold AIG’s 64,695-sq.-ft. Class A Baldwin Park office complex, a repositioned property, for $8.64 million to a private investor.
» In multifamily, the 300-unit Crosswater at Lakeside Village sold to Atlanta-based REIT Post Properties for $48.5 million, or $161,667 per unit, a record per-unit pricesince the downturn in suburban Orlando, CBRE says.
» Industrial vacancies are down,and rents for Class A and B properties show increases as availability falls. That said, Orlando’s market isn’t as strong as those elsewhere in Florida.
» West Palm Beach-based McCraney Property, in a joint venture with New York’s Clarion Partners, broke ground on 243,000 square feet of speculative industrial in John Young Business Park and recently wrapped up construction of Dade Paper’s 150,000-sq.-ft. central Florida distribution center and offices in the same park.
» Retail is Orlando’s shining star. “We’re seeing things pick up,” says Drew Forness, president of Winter Park-based Forness Properties. “Landlords can be more bold with their negotiations. You’re seeing a little more velocity in the market with tenant interest.” Rent increases will depend on the market. “You’re seeing kind of a slow creep upward,” he says.
Big Box
In a sign that empty big-box spaces are being revived, Old Time Pottery is taking a former Bealls store that sat empty for three years at Sand Lake Corners, says Drew Forness (above) of Forness Properties.
| Orlando - Commercial Market | ||||
| Vacancy Rate | Avg. Asking Rent | |||
| Sector | Quarter 2 2012 | Quarter 2 2013 | Quarter 2 2012 | Quarter 2 2013 |
| Industrial | 11.6% | 10.4% | $4.90 | $4.90 |
| Retail | 9.6% | 9.2% | $16.23 | $15.04 |
| Office | 14.4% | 13.6% | $19.15 | $19.22 |
| Source: Colliers International | ||||