Monday, April 17, 2000
by Matt Gove
An already strong Atlanta office market has apparently gotten stronger, according to first quarter office market statistics from Cushman & Wakefield.
“I think it’s really a continuation of the pace established during the last two quarters of last year,” said Frances Weyand, senior manager – Southeast of Cushman & Wakefield’s research consulting services group.
At 1.7 million square feet, net absorption has already surpassed the 1.5 million square feet absorbed by midyear 1999. Weyand said the Central Business District, at 340,000 square feet, is ahead of last year’s pace of nearly 1 million square feet and midtown’s 216,000 square feet is more than the submarket absorbed in all of 1999.
Overall vacancy rate is another area where nearly every submarket is recording improvement over year-end 1999 numbers. Taken as a whole, the market is at 11.9 percent versus 13.4 percent at year-end 1999. Again, the CBD is posting some of the most impressive improvements of any submarket, Weyand said.
The downtown vacancy rate is now 9 percent, marking the first time the rate has dipped below 10 percent in “a long time, probably more than 10 years,” Weyand said.
As the rates drop, questions about the timing of the next downtown office tower are bound to arise.
“The newest downtown stats are definitely positive and heading in a direction towards a stabilized submarket,” said developer Holder Properties’ Scott Taylor. “But barriers to entry in class A office development are higher than most people perceive. It’s tough in today’s financing environment.”
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