Retail Occupancy Soars

Texas' four  biggest markets will only deliver 6M SF of new retail this year. It bodes well for continued high occupancy, and it's why we’re excited to bring you Bisnow’s Dallas Retail Update on Oct 28 at the Westin Galleria starting at 7:30 am. You can register here.

The Weitzman Group CEO Herb Weitzman, who will be a panelist at the event, tells us DFW occupancy is almost 91%. Combined with high job and population growth, we're seeing the highest retail construction since 2007. Because construction remains demand-driven, we should see this healthy balance of supply and demand continue, he tells us.

Herb (here with his team) gave us the city-by-city breakdown on new retail set to open in calendar-year 2014: Austin (1.1M SF); DFW (1.9M SF); Houston (1.6M SF); and San Antonio (1.5M SF). That’s only 6.1M SF total—Herb says a decade or so ago, it wasn’t unusual to see just one of these markets add that much in a single year. “That tells me that not only do we have pretty strong retail markets in Texas, but we’re likely to keep them that way,” Herb says. The new construction is primarily for anchors, many of which are grocery stores, and the in-line and small-shop space is coming online nearly fully leased, he says.

TWG is growing its leasing portfolio throughout Texas, Herb says, adding some high-profile assignments including the street-level retail and restaurant space at the new Hall Arts Tower in the Arts District (first phase opening next year). It's helping turn downtown Dallas into a round-the-clock destination, Herb says. TWG is also handling pre-leasing for a major regional project at southwest corner of US-380 and FM 423, two of the fastest growing thoroughfares in Frisco.