Even As Construction Drops In Fort Worth, DFW Retail Leasing Packed A Mean Punch In Q1
The net absorption rate in the Dallas-Fort Worth retail sector hit 722K SF market-wide in the first quarter of 2019, data from commercial real estate firm CBRE shows.
The retail occupancy rate remained strong at 94.5% across DFW, while 451K SF of new construction was delivered across the entire Metroplex in Q1.
Adding to leasing activity was the 800K SF mixed-use development The Union, in Uptown Dallas, which is about to include major grocery retailer Tom Thumb and seven restaurants situated next to 309 apartments and an office tower.
Fort Worth maintained a 94.5% vacancy rate even as the market substituted new construction for redevelopment work to counterbalance rapid building activity over the past several years.
“Some of the most notable redevelopments include the famous Fort Worth Stockyards, WestBend, and Crockett Row at West 7th,” CBRE said in its report.
In just the past year, Fort Worth’s pipeline of new construction fell from 1.9M SF in 2015 to 1.2M SF in 2016, 1M in 2017, and just over 932K SF last year.
Markets with negative retail absorption rates in Q1 included East Dallas Outlying, Far North Dallas and North Central Dallas. Negative absorption generally occurs when demand for an asset type is lower than supply coming online.
