Industrial Spec Coming Back?
Next week, we are going to be talking the future. Or at least 2014 during our Atlanta 2014 Forecast at the St. Regis Hotel (details and tix here). We called up one of our panelists for some prognostication, and to say the least, we were a bit surprised. Seefried Properties' founder Ferdinand Seefried has been glum on Atlanta's industrial market in years past. Not so much anymore. While tenant demand is still anemic, the fact that almost nothing has been built (spec-wise) since the Great Recession means we may be seeing spec development soon. “All the newer buildings… have been in the meantime absorbed,” Ferdinand says. “There will be a wave of traditional 100k to 200k SF rear-load buildlings more than front-load buildings.” There's still rent growth needed (about 10% to 15%), but Ferdinand says that should come quickly just due to the sheer lack of supply.
