DC Retail Vacancy Among Lowest in Nation
The woes that have plagued DC's office market don't appear to be spreading to other asset classes. In retail, the DC market has the sixth-lowest vacancy rate in the nation, according to Cassidy Turley's just-released National Retail Review. Though retailers come and go in regional retail hotspots like Tysons or Georgetown (pictured), most vacancies in good locations seem to be filling up quickly, the report says; DC's retail vacancy rate comes in at 5.2% through Q2, down from 5.7% from Q2 last year and trailing only San Fran, Hawaii, San Jose, New York, and Pittsburgh. (So we get beat by San Francisco again? Rough week.)
Specialty centers (which include outlets and theme centers) across the nation are hurting due to large-scale store closings, the report says, including retailers like Aeropostale currently closing 175 stores, American Eagle shuttering 150, and Express closing 50. But the ones that are staying open are performing well, especially in DC, where average quoted rents for specialty centers are a little over $41/PSF, second only to Hawaii in markets where figures are available. (Isn't the point of going to Hawaii to wear as little clothing as possible?) An increased focus on urban retail may be causing upticks in mall vacancies, too. Cassidy says that vacancy in malls nationwide rose a percentage point over the last quarter to 4.6%, and that new mall development throughout the country may push that figure even higher in the months to come.
