0ffice vacancies in the Kansas City market are at their lowest point since 2001. And according to a new report from JLL, you can expect the area’s office vacancy rate to fall even lower in the coming months.
According to JLL’s third quarter 2018 office outlook, the total vacancy rate for the Kansas City office market fell to 11 percent. This rate stood at 13.4 percent in 2015.
Net absorption was strong during the third quarter, too, with 34,351 square feet of absorption during the quarter. This marked the 11th straight quarter of positive absorption for this market.
JLL pointed to several major transactions in the Kansas City market, too, that will help continue this positive trend. New Directions Behavioral Health is leasing 78,059 square feet at the Spring Campus. Cargill is leasing 51,256 square feet at Corporate Ridge II.
And in the largest transaction of the third quarter, Netsmart signed on to take the Teva Neuroscience sublease at 11100 Nall Ave., totaling 156,000 square feet.
The CBD saw a major deal, too. CrossHarbor Capital Partners & Lingerfelt CommonWealth Partners purchased 2345 Grand from Franklin Street Properties Corporation. At 630,000 square feet, this ranks as one of the largest multi-tenant office buildings in the Kansas City market. At the time of sale, the building was 73 percent occupied.
With the strength of the market, it’s little surprise that the average office asking rent in the Kansas City area is on the rise, too. JLL reported that this figure rose to $43.32 a square feet during the third quarter.
