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CRUNCH GOES COMMERCIAL
By Hubble Smith, [email protected]
Las Vegas Review - Journal
Oct. 08, 2008
NV
Industrial real estate markets search for stability amid frozen
financing, rising vacancy
Andy Armenian of Vegas Valley Commercial, right, on Tuesday shows a
North Las Vegas warehouse to prospective buyers Peter Mayr-Mautner,
center, Bernard Kiel, back, and broker Danielle Steffen. Industrial
vacancy reached 9.2 percent during the third quarter, up from 8.6
percent in the previous quarter, Grubb & Ellis reported.
Photos by Jason Bean/Review-Journal
Broker Andy Armenian of Vegas Valley Commercial on Tuesday stands
inside one of his listed warehouses in North Las Vegas. Photo
Housing isn't the only real estate market being crushed by the tidal
wave on Wall Street.
The credit crisis is now having a greater effect on commercial real
estate than the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s, a September
report from the DLA Piper global law firm shows.
Andy Armenian, owner and broker of Vegas Valley Commercial, sees this
unfolding daily in Las Vegas. His firm represents the seller of a
29,900-square-foot industrial building at 4080 N. Pecos Road that's
been reduced to $3.5 million, or about $117 a square foot.
Two years ago, investors would have grabbed that property for $145 to
$150 a square foot with a down payment of 5 percent to 10 percent,
Armenian said; now they've got to come up with 20 percent to 25
percent down to get a loan.
It's a sign of the times as commercial markets search for
stabilization, local observers said.
"You're going to see sales prices dropping and properties pulled off
the market because they can't get their price," Jeff Barton of Grubb
& Ellis said. "Also, who's going to lend right now? We've got to get
a true valuation on the sales side and we've got to see what happens
with the banks, if they get comfortable with lending again."
The industrial market in Las Vegas, once driven by demand for big-box
distribution and warehouse space, has changed drastically in the last
two years.
Industrial vacancy reached 9.2 percent during the third quarter, up
from 8.6 percent in the previous quarter and 5.9 percent a year ago,
Grubb & Ellis reported. Average annual asking rent ranged from $6.71
a square foot for warehouse and distribution space to $12.45 a square
foot for research and development space.
Landlords no longer have the upper hand in setting rental rates,
Barton said. They're offering rent concessions and increasing tenant
improvement allowances to upward of $50 a square foot.
For the first time in eight years, industrial construction fell below
1 million square feet in Las Vegas.
Most developers are waiting for evidenced demand for space,
stabilization of rental rates and a reduction in land prices before
venturing back into the market, Barton said.
Lack of available financing remains the chief concern of respondents
to DLA's September survey on the state of the market.
"Frustrated with the ongoing credit crisis that continues to reshape
the financial markets, real estate executives are expressing a new
record level of bearish sentiment as they continue to be reminded
of the cyclical nature of the industry after nearly a decade of
prosperity," the report said.
Before the collapse of Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc., American
International Group Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co., the majority of
survey respondents said that the savings and loan crisis was the event
that had the greatest impact on the real estate industry in the past
20 years.
That sentiment changed after Lehman Bros. filed for bankruptcy. Eighty
percent of respondents do not believe that these events signal the
bottom of the cycle, nor do they see it as the "first sign of light
at the end of the credit crisis tunnel."
Las Vegas' industrial market has not been immune to the economic
downturn, Donna Alderson of CB Richard Ellis said.
Net absorption, or the total amount of space leased, fell to 18,400
square feet during the quarter. The airport, Henderson and northwest
submarkets show negative year-to-date absorption.
Average monthly lease rates dropped to 73 cents a square foot, down
3 cents from the previous quarter and down 6 cents from a year ago,
CB Richard Ellis reported.
Major companies continue to move into Southern Nevada with its
attractive tax structure, Alderson said. Amazon.com took 142,000 square
feet for a plant in North Las Vegas that will create more than 300
jobs and RC Willey Home Furnishings leased another 45,000 square feet.
The local commercial real estate market's condition is not all doom
and gloom. Forbes.com ranked Las Vegas among the top 10 U.S. cities
for commercial investment.
"In the commercial real estate market, we are seeing moderate demand
for rental apartment complexes while office buildings continue hurting
for the next year," Armenian said. "In the industrial sector, new
construction has considerably slowed and generally we expect the
market to stabilize during third and fourth quarter of 2009."
By Hubble Smith, [email protected]
Las Vegas Review - Journal
Oct. 08, 2008
NV
Industrial real estate markets search for stability amid frozen
financing, rising vacancy
Andy Armenian of Vegas Valley Commercial, right, on Tuesday shows a
North Las Vegas warehouse to prospective buyers Peter Mayr-Mautner,
center, Bernard Kiel, back, and broker Danielle Steffen. Industrial
vacancy reached 9.2 percent during the third quarter, up from 8.6
percent in the previous quarter, Grubb & Ellis reported.
Photos by Jason Bean/Review-Journal
Broker Andy Armenian of Vegas Valley Commercial on Tuesday stands
inside one of his listed warehouses in North Las Vegas. Photo
Housing isn't the only real estate market being crushed by the tidal
wave on Wall Street.
The credit crisis is now having a greater effect on commercial real
estate than the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s, a September
report from the DLA Piper global law firm shows.
Andy Armenian, owner and broker of Vegas Valley Commercial, sees this
unfolding daily in Las Vegas. His firm represents the seller of a
29,900-square-foot industrial building at 4080 N. Pecos Road that's
been reduced to $3.5 million, or about $117 a square foot.
Two years ago, investors would have grabbed that property for $145 to
$150 a square foot with a down payment of 5 percent to 10 percent,
Armenian said; now they've got to come up with 20 percent to 25
percent down to get a loan.
It's a sign of the times as commercial markets search for
stabilization, local observers said.
"You're going to see sales prices dropping and properties pulled off
the market because they can't get their price," Jeff Barton of Grubb
& Ellis said. "Also, who's going to lend right now? We've got to get
a true valuation on the sales side and we've got to see what happens
with the banks, if they get comfortable with lending again."
The industrial market in Las Vegas, once driven by demand for big-box
distribution and warehouse space, has changed drastically in the last
two years.
Industrial vacancy reached 9.2 percent during the third quarter, up
from 8.6 percent in the previous quarter and 5.9 percent a year ago,
Grubb & Ellis reported. Average annual asking rent ranged from $6.71
a square foot for warehouse and distribution space to $12.45 a square
foot for research and development space.
Landlords no longer have the upper hand in setting rental rates,
Barton said. They're offering rent concessions and increasing tenant
improvement allowances to upward of $50 a square foot.
For the first time in eight years, industrial construction fell below
1 million square feet in Las Vegas.
Most developers are waiting for evidenced demand for space,
stabilization of rental rates and a reduction in land prices before
venturing back into the market, Barton said.
Lack of available financing remains the chief concern of respondents
to DLA's September survey on the state of the market.
"Frustrated with the ongoing credit crisis that continues to reshape
the financial markets, real estate executives are expressing a new
record level of bearish sentiment as they continue to be reminded
of the cyclical nature of the industry after nearly a decade of
prosperity," the report said.
Before the collapse of Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc., American
International Group Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co., the majority of
survey respondents said that the savings and loan crisis was the event
that had the greatest impact on the real estate industry in the past
20 years.
That sentiment changed after Lehman Bros. filed for bankruptcy. Eighty
percent of respondents do not believe that these events signal the
bottom of the cycle, nor do they see it as the "first sign of light
at the end of the credit crisis tunnel."
Las Vegas' industrial market has not been immune to the economic
downturn, Donna Alderson of CB Richard Ellis said.
Net absorption, or the total amount of space leased, fell to 18,400
square feet during the quarter. The airport, Henderson and northwest
submarkets show negative year-to-date absorption.
Average monthly lease rates dropped to 73 cents a square foot, down
3 cents from the previous quarter and down 6 cents from a year ago,
CB Richard Ellis reported.
Major companies continue to move into Southern Nevada with its
attractive tax structure, Alderson said. Amazon.com took 142,000 square
feet for a plant in North Las Vegas that will create more than 300
jobs and RC Willey Home Furnishings leased another 45,000 square feet.
The local commercial real estate market's condition is not all doom
and gloom. Forbes.com ranked Las Vegas among the top 10 U.S. cities
for commercial investment.
"In the commercial real estate market, we are seeing moderate demand
for rental apartment complexes while office buildings continue hurting
for the next year," Armenian said. "In the industrial sector, new
construction has considerably slowed and generally we expect the
market to stabilize during third and fourth quarter of 2009."