No Space for Small Industrial Users?
Someone call Sherlock Holmes. In Richmond and Delta, all the space for smaller-scale industrial users is missing. Avison Young VP Ryan Kerr tells us there’s not much out there, so prices are continuing to rise. Delta saw just 10 deals (worth $14M) in the first half of 2014. A single transaction accounted for one-third of the total industrial dollar volume. (In Richmond two industrial transactions represented 42% of first-half dollar volume.) Scarcity of product is pushing many end users to larger projects like Campbell Heights Business Park and Gloucester Industrial Estates, where build-to-suit sites are available, says Ryan.
New developments in Richmond and Delta will ease pressure on the industrial markets. Ryan points to Dayhu Group’s Boundary Bay Industrial Park (seen under construction above, with two buildings, 440k SF each) and Hopewell Distribution Centre in Richmond, where the next phase will add 278k SF of industrial supply. Most of these will be distribution projects, though, Ryan cautions—not much help for smaller users seeking space between 10k and 40k SF. “They’ll have to look at either older, less attractive existing product,” he says. “Or go the strata route, or look in different markets.”
