Dallas-Fort Worth retail leasing market
TEXAS - Retail leasing in North Texas will be tougher this year, but local population and job growth and construction will continue to keep things better here than in many parts of the country, an annual report said Tuesday.
Retail space likely will stay on the market longer this year, said Brian Glaser, president of the D/FW Commercial Retail Division of The Weitzman Group in Dallas. And there are likely more store closings ahead, according to the report, done with Cencor Realty.
"But we expect D-FW to be spared from the brunt of these closings, as our job market, our strong economic fundamentals and the diversified economy shelter us — at least in part — from the rest of the country’s weakness," Glaser said.
Occupancy in the Dal- las-Fort Worth area is at 87.6 percent; it’s 88.2 per- cent on the Fort Worth side. That’s better than in 1989, when vacancy hovered around 20 percent.
"The slower construction market will prevent us from having a big glut of space," said Bob Young, managing director of brokerage services for The Weitzman Group. The new construction pace is expected to end 2009 at 2.9 million square feet, the lowest this decade.
Occupancy has been holding relatively flat, despite new construction and the closing of stores such as Circuit City, Shoe Pavilion and Linens ’n Things.
Small, neighborhood strip centers are likely to have a tougher time leasing space in the coming year than other commercial buildings. These centers are less costly to build than other types of retail space, and many already have lots of vacant space. Occupancy is at 83 percent, down from 84 percent in 2007, according to Cencor Realty and The Weitzman Group.
Grocery-anchored shopping centers are faring well, with many supermarket chains reporting increases in same-store sales over the previous year.
The top submarkets for retail leasing have been Rockwall and the Fort Worth Central Business District, each with 97 percent occupancy.
