Market spotlight — Sarasota/Manatee Industrial market shows robust activity

 Although Sarasota and Manatee counties haven’t developed much industrial product relative to submarkets to the north, northeast or south, the area has shown that it can support manufacturing, flex and distribution space alike. New space, meanwhile, from Benderson Development Co. and Harrod Properties, primarily, has met with widespread acceptance from tenants seeking modern space with amenities, adequate truck and other vehicle parking and higher ceiling heights. Much of the markets’ industrial space tends to measure 50,000 square feet or less to accommodate tenant demand, but that could be changing as logistics firms need to meet so-called “last mile” demand from e-commerce purveyors and distributors who are willing to be pioneers.

2.8 %

The percentage of available industrial space in Sarasota and Manatee counties as of the end of 2017. By comparison, the vacancy rate began 2014 at 7.7%. As of Dec. 31, industrial vacancy throughout the entire Tampa/St. Petersburg region stood at 4.5%.

$8.50

The average rental rate per square foot for all industrial space in the Sarasota and Manatee market as the end of the fourth quarter. For the entire Tampa and St. Petersburg market, encompassing Hillsborough, Pinellas, Hernando and Polk counties, the average rental rate at the close of 2017 was $6.05 per square foot.

$5.76

The average rental rate, per square foot, for industrial space in the Sarasota/Manatee area at the start of 2014.

498,482

Net absorption, in square feet, for all industrial space in Sarasota and Manatee counties in 2017. By comparison, the entire Tampa and St. Petersburg market ended the year with a positive absorption of just over 3.9 million square feet, led by several large distribution leases in Polk County.

205,458

Amount of new industrial space, in square feet, added to the Sarasota/Manatee market inventory in 2017. Overall, 2.82 million square feet was added marketwide, with nearly half of the entire total completed during the calendar year in Polk County.

221,514

Amount of new industrial space in the Sarasota/Manatee market under construction at the end of 2017, representing slightly less than 10% of the overall 2.83 million square feet of space being built throughout the six-county region.

9

The number of new buildings under construction in the Sarasota/Manatee market as of Dec. 31, totaling 221,514 square feet. Some 46% was pre-leased. Of all the submarkets in the Tampa/St. Petersburg region, only the eastern section of Hillsborough County — one edge of the key Interstate 4 corridor — had more construction activity marketwide at the close of 2017 than Sarasota/Manatee. There, 12 buildings are under construction.

100,000

Amount of space, in square feet, in the largest new industrial building delivered in the Sarasota/Manatee area in 2017. Harrod Properties Inc.’s Gatewood Corporate Center, in Lakewood Ranch, also contains the largest building under construction, at 60,000 square feet. In all, 2.83 million square feet of industrial space is under construction marketwide.

Source: CoStar Group