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Denver Industrial Market
Should we start calling 2011 the year that didn’t happen? We started out the year with so much promise in the Industrial market, having lowered vacancy by a full percentage point during 2010, and continuing a run of 6 consecutive quarters with positive absorption. Unfortunately we ended 2011 off at virtually the same vacancy rate as last year (7.8% vs. 7.7%) and with only negligible positive absorption (94,007 SF). It was as if we couldn’t get out of the blocks! Our market certainly had some good news throughout the year with the announcement that GE Energy/PrimeStar Solar was going to build the nations largest solar factory in Aurora, CO (280,000 SF), and the sale of several large institutional investments, most notably the Aurora Commerce Center (406,000 SF) and Denver Commerce Center (353,000 SF). We made some predictions last quarter that we would end the year off with some big lease signings, and while they didn’t materialize we feel that these rumored deals are still alive and will be making news in early 2012. The national sentiment is that Industrial is going to make a resurgence in 2012, with our nations manufacturing base returning to productivity levels not seen in years. Our office market made some positive strides in 2011 and an Industrial recovery typically lags the office market, so let’s hope this trend continues and we have some great news to report in the near future.
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