Chiquita lease will give big boost to Charlotte’s office market

December 2, 2011

Charlotte Business Journal
December 2, 2011

Trinity Capital Advisors and Rubenstein Partners are the big winners in the Chiquita Brands International relocation. But the banana company’s decision to move its corporate headquarters here is a positive sign even for those landlords who didn’t land the new tenant.

At a press conference this week announcing its relocation from Cincinnati, Chiquita confirmed it is negotiating to relocate its headquarters to NASCAR Plaza, the 19-story, 390,000-square-foot office tower at the corner of South Caldwell and East Stonewall streets. Trinity and Rubenstein purchased the building early in 2011, after it had fallen into foreclosure in late 2010. Chiquita is expected to lease 150,000 square feet at NASCAR Plaza, which lists 255,800 square feet as available.

Andrew Jenkins, managing director at Karnes Research Co., says Chiquita’s move will likely lower the uptown office vacancy rate by almost a full percentage point to 12%.

And Chiquita is a nice fit for NASCAR Plaza, he says. “You don’t really see a law firm opening up at NASCAR Plaza, whereas Chiquita is used to that type of marketing. And there’s no telling if there’s some kind of supplier-vendor network that they might bring down with them that also serves their business.”

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Triangle Office Market Update – 2Q10

September 1, 2010
Office Market Overview

KARNES Triangle Office Market Overview - Source The KARNES Report

As of the second quarter of 2010, the KARNES Triangle office market totaled over 42.1 million square feet of for-lease buildings greater than 15,000 square feet in size. Approximately 7.9 million square feet, or 18.8%, of the office inventory was vacant during the second quarter. Two new office buildings totaling 62,225 square feet were delivered during the second quarter, while five existing buildings totaling 737,000 square feet were added to the Karnes inventory. Among the existing buildings added were the four buildings at Network Center, a 676,000-square-foot former Nortel office park. The park, which is home to Fidelity, added 456,745 square feet of vacant space to the I-40/RTP inventory when added.

At 18.8%, the Triangle’s second quarter 2010 vacancy rate was 0.5% points higher than the 18.3% reported in the first quarter of 2010. Although net absorption totaling 126,441 square feet during the quarter outpaced new completions totaling 62,225 square feet, the addition of 456,745 square feet of vacant space at the Network Center office park prevented potential improvements in the regional vacancy rate.

Net absorption during the second quarter of 2010, which totaled 126,441 square feet was primarily derived from strong leasing in West Wake, Northwest Wake and Northeast Wake, where a total of 136,755 square feet of positive net demand was reported. The largest new occupancy during the quarter was reported in the Northeast Wake submarket, where BB&T occupied 30,600 square feet at Highwoods Tower One.

After averaging over 1.7 million square feet of new office construction per year between 2007 and 2009, the Triangle office market is poised for a reprieve during 2010. A total of 148,725 square feet of new space was delivered during the first six months of 2010 and only 170,844 square feet in five projects was under construction as of the second quarter. Smaller sized projects and in diversified locations comprising the under construction inventory should mitigate supply-side pressures and allow for the absorption of excess vacant space during the remainder of 2010.

Read the Entire KARNES Report Office Online by joining the Triangle Commercial Property Exchange. Annual membership fees include access to the quarterly office, industrial and retail reports as well access to many additional member benefits including searching the entire property database, sending broadcast emails with wants/needs and listing availabilities, generating high quality property brochures, and much more.

The KARNES Triangle reports have been produced for 15 years and contain detailed information on vacancy, absorption, completion, and rental trends. The reports also include breakdowns by submarket as well as tenant activity details and development lists.


KARNES Launches Charlotte CPE Version 3.0

November 1, 2009

October 19th, 2009

KARNES is pleased to announce the launch of a new version of the Charlotte Region Commercial Property Exchange. With this upgrade, we have greatly enhanced many of the core functionalities of the Commercial Property Exchange which dramatically improves our members’ experience.

What’s New in Version 3.0

Enhanced Searching and Filtering Capabilities
Utilizing the latest in web technologies, CPE 3.0 streamlines searching to improve response and data delivery time and maximizes search efficiency to get the results you want fast.

  • Searching – One easy platform allows you to search All Listing Methods (For Sale, For Lease, For Sublease) of All Status (Available, Under Contract, Closed Sold/Leased, Withdrawn).
  • Results Display- Easily view summary level listing information, change search parameters, customize and sort display information, toggle to mapped results, save search or start a new search.
  • Integrated Search Filter – Add, edit or remove search parameters to refine results and improve the way you locate listings.
  • Quick Search – Enter keywords and unique property features to rapidly search the entire data set.
  • Comp Searches – Sale and Lease Transactions are easily accessed from the Transaction History and Sold/Leased fields of the Main Search and Result Filter and easily viewed in results as an added display option.

Upgraded Map Results and Search Tools
CPE 3.0 integrates Google Maps, a leading online provider of mapping technologies, as its map service which improves geocoding accuracy, result load time, satellite and hybrid imagery, and polygon and radius search capabilities.

  • Mapped Results – Search Results are automatically mapped, improving load time and allowing you to toggle between the summary listing details and mapped results.
  • Map Search – Efficiently view mapped search results then narrow and expand search criteria with the integrated search filter to dynamically meet your search needs.
  • Polygon Search – Create and define your own search area to capture the results you want.
  • Radius Search – Define the distance and center of your search area to capture the results you want.

Improved Listing Delivery Methods
CPE 3.0 allows for quick and easy printing, emailing and creation of customized PDF reports of a single property, multiple properties from Search Results, and properties saved in Portfolios.

  • Print Listing – One click will create a print version of the Property Overview of a single listing or Summary of multiple listings.
  • Email Listing – Send an email with a link to the Property Overview of a single listing or Summary of multiple listings.
  • Customized PDF Reports – Produce professional quality customized PDF brochures of single listings or multiple listings with integrated Report Headers, enhanced Brochure Formats, and user defined Brochure Styles.

Industrial sector builds despite high vacancies

October 17, 2009

Among Charlotte-area warehouses and distribution centers, vacancy rates are rising. Rents are falling. Yet two local developers are betting now is the time to build more than 300,000 square feet of new industrial space…Charlotte’s industrial market has fared relatively well during the recession compared with the office and retail markets because developers didn’t overbuild, said Karnes analyst Andrew Jenkins. One reason is developers grew cautious when industrial vacancy rates peaked at 19.2 percent in 2003, Jenkins said, “scaring everyone into being careful where they built.”
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Waxhaw may get new mix with a town center project

September 19, 2009

September 19, 2009
Charlotte Business Journal
A Matthews developer may do something next year that has been rarely accomplished in the Charlotte area in this economy: Start construction of a mixed-use commercial center…Having Waxhaw sign on to the project may be the key to finding financing, says Andrew Jenkins, managing partner of real estate analysis firm Karnes Research Co. in Charlotte. Such an agreement “would ultimately be the main draw for the project,” he says. The Commons at Wesley Chapel, a commercial center with a Target store, may provide competitors for small shops, Jenkins says.
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Triad commercial vacancies stable in Q2

August 21, 2009

August 21, 2009
Triad Business Journal
Vacancy rates for industrial, office and retail real estate in the Triad were mostly stable in the second quarter compared to the first quarter of this year, according to the latest set of reports from Karnes Research…Retail vacancies crept up in the quarter to 10.5 percent from 10.3 percent in the first quarter, the company reported. Forsyth County’s vacancy rate was higher at 11.7 percent, compared to 9.9 percent in Guilford County. The negative net demand was mostly due to the closing of locations by Peak Fitness, Goody’s and Linens N Things, the report said….
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Sales of office, retail and industrial property plunge in Charlotte

August 14, 2009

August 14, 2009
Charlotte Observer
Two reports on Charlotte’s commercial real estate market released this week show a continued decline in demand for commercial space as employers contract and retailers close up shop amid weak consumer spending….Net absorption, or the amount of space occupied minus the space vacated, was negative 134,800 square feet during the first half of this year for Charlotte-area office space, according to Karnes Research. Last year, net absorption was a positive 670,800 square feet. The two years prior it was around 1.4 million per year. “Demand is down, a lot,” said Karnes analyst Andrew Jenkins.

Also noteworthy: No new buildings were completed in the suburbs during the first half of this year. That hasn’t happened since 1992, Jenkins said. Last year, developers put 2 million square feet of new space on the market, all of it in the suburbs, according to Karnes. “It’s a good sign the developers have pulled back and are aware of what was going on,” Jenkins said. “They’re tightening belts, and it’s hard to find financing to build new buildings. At least they recognize this is not a good time to be delivering speculative space.”
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Meridian center in Charlotte’s University Research Park is taken back by Hartford Financial

July 31, 2009

July 31, 2009
Charlotte Business Journal
The Meridian Corporate Center is officially out of receivership and under new ownership. The owner of the 1.9 million-square-foot University Research Park office complex handed the property over to its lender, The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., earlier this month in lieu of foreclosure. The transaction was valued at $110 million…Although the litigation between Hartford and Cerberus continues, the Meridian Corporate Center likely becomes more marketable now that it’s out of receivership and has clear ownership, says Andrew Jenkins of Karnes Research Co. And given the current economy, it’s unlikely that Hartford would be able to find a buyer for the office park in the short term anyway, he says.
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Big construction in the Bull City

July 25, 2009

July 25, 2009
News and Observer
Plans for a massive mixed-use development are taking shape beyond the right field wall of the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
Scientific Properties has won site plan approval for its Van Alen project, which would be downtown’s biggest new-construction project and could feature the city’s tallest building….Overall, the Triangle’s office vacancy rate hit a four-year high of 15.4 percent at the end of March. Downtown Durham’s office vacancy rate was 10.8 percent at the end of March, down from 16.1 percent a year earlier, Karnes Research data show. No other corner of the region filled offices as quickly.
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Riverwalk gets a boost in deal with Rock Hill council

July 17, 2009

July 17, 2009
Charlotte Business Journal
The developer of Riverwalk, a planned $600 million mix of businesses, homes and shops, has a new partner that could help get the stalled project near the Catawba River off the drawing board….Andrew Jenkins, managing partner of Karnes Research Co., a real estate consulting firm in Charlotte, says big projects such as Riverwalk are viable if financing can be found. The banks and big investors need some positive economic news to bring them back to the real estate development market. “So if (developers) are able to convince investors that their project is a long-term project with modest returns and a less risky investment to, say, the stock market, there should always be opportunity for larger projects in the future,” Jenkins says.
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