Mobile Office Market Assessment 3rd Quarter 2016
Stirling Properties is pleased to present the 2016 third quarter Mobile Office Market Survey. This report, compiled by Jack Conger and Jill Meeks, Sales and Leasing Executives of our Mobile office, is intended to track average rental rates, occupancy rates, and average absorption rates for West Mobile and the downtown Central Business District (CBD) on office buildings greater than 20,000 square feet. It was created to be a resource for agents, as well as tenants, landlords, developers, lenders, fellow brokers and anyone else looking for information about the Mobile Office market.
Jack Conger is our newest Sales and Leasing Executive in our Mobile office, focusing on industrial and office brokerage. Jill Meeks has over 27 years’ experience in commercial real estate.
Here’s an excerpt from Jack and Jill’s Market Assessment:
Since the Q1-16 Mobile Office Market Survey, the West Mobile office market had a number of noteworthy transactions that created quite a stir in the market. In the end, the office market experienced a slight decrease in average occupancy from 79.5%-79.4% and an average rental rate decrease from $15.50 per sq. ft. to $15.35 per sq. ft., reflecting a decrease in the absorption rate of 0.09% from Q1-16.
Mobile’s growth is evident with several building projects planned and underway. In the CBD, a new Federal Courthouse is under construction and the Meridian at the Port, a 264-unit apartment complex located at 300 Water Street, is awaiting construction. Walmart announced plans for a new 2.9 million sq. ft. distribution center in West Mobile, and Airbus launched the first airplane assembled by its new $600 million final assembly plant back in April. This activity promises to further stabilize the office market in Mobile, and Stirling Properties looks forward to being a part of this season of growth and creativity!
Please click here to view and download the PDF of the Mobile Office Market Survey. This survey provides a good summary of the Mobile office market and my hope is that it becomes a valuable resource in the market.
Mobile Office Market Assessment 1st Quarter 2016
Stirling Properties is pleased to present the 2016 first quarter Mobile Office Market Survey. This report, compiled by Jack Conger and Jill Meeks, Sales and Leasing Executives of our Mobile office, is intended to track the direction of the office market by establishing an absorption rate, a market occupancy rate and an average rental rate for West Mobile and the downtown Central Business District (CBD) on office buildings greater than 20,000 square feet. It was created to be a resource for agents, as well as tenants, landlords, developers, lenders, fellow brokers and anyone else looking for information about the Mobile Office market.
Jack Conger is our newest Sales and Leasing Executive in our Mobile office, focusing on industrial and office brokerage. Jill Meeks has over 27 years’ experience in commercial real estate.
Here’s an excerpt from Jack and Jill’s Market Assessment:
Since the Q3-15 survey, the office buildings surveyed in this report in West Mobile experienced a very modest increase in average occupancy rate from 80% to 80.1%, and the average rental rate decreased from $15.61 to $15.45/per square foot. West Mobile has a fair amount of older, unimproved office space available at below-market rental rates that contributes to low rental rates. We have seen several new Healthcare related expansions in West Mobile and expect that this trend will continue around the hospital campus.
In the CBD, there was a decrease in the occupancy rate from approximately 72% to 65.9%, and average rental rates decreased from $17.42 to $17.29/per square foot. The decrease in the occupancy rate is due in part to a few notable transactions: Regions Bank’s consolidation of its St. Francis Street and Water Street branches, Servis1st Bank’s relocation to the redeveloped Phelps Dunbar office at Royal and Dauphin Street, and lastly, BBVA Compass Bank and Phelps Dunbar’s move into RSA’s recently completed Van Antwerp renovation.
Overall leasing activity in updated CBD office buildings continue to be solid, along with demand for smaller renovated historic properties.
Please click here to view and download the PDF of the Mobile Office Market Survey. This survey provides a good summary of the Mobile office market and my hope is that it becomes a valuable resource in the market.
Mobile Office Market Survey
John Toomey III, CPM® is a Broker and Mobile New Business Development Coordinator in our Mobile, Alabama, office with over 30 years’ experience in the commercial real estate industry. He recently completed an Office Market Survey of the West Mobile and Mobile CBD markets, with plans to periodically update the survey to track trends and establish absorption rates.
Here’s an excerpt from John’s Market Assessment:
Our office market has seen challenging times the last five years. Some buildings have fared better than others in terms of occupancy. The good news is while the Mobile Office Market vacancy rate has been relatively stagnant, it has recently started to improve. The Downtown Mobile Alliance and the City of Mobile were successful in creating a statewide Historic Tax Credit in October 2013. After going into effect, this tax credit has been instrumental in spurring office redevelopment. Many historic, but vacant, buildings were revitalized using these tax credits and put back into commerce. One such example is the RSA Van Antwerp Building located in the CBD. This roughly 60,000 SF building has taken over 2 years to renovate and will open summer of 2015 with Phelps Dunbar and BBVA Compass Bank occupying most of the building, essentially pre-leasing nearly the entire building before it comes online.
We have seen a fair amount of leasing activity in our office market the last 12 to 18 months. Unfortunately, a lot of space was subleased, which does not have the desired effect on our rental rates and absorption rates. The Trustmark sublease at RSA Trustmark Building is an example. Newly restored buildings like RSA Van Antwerp Building add more inventory to the market. It is a positive step to see these buildings restored, but it remains to be seen how this will affect future rental and absorption rates.
In summary, we expect the office market to see leisurely positive growth in the future.
Please click here to view and download the PDF of the Mobile Office Market Survey. This survey provides a good summary of the Mobile office market and my hope is that it becomes a valuable resource in the market.
