Cassidy Turley‘s 2013 commercial real estate report for St. Louis came with plenty of good news for the brokers working this market.
Like many cities across the Midwest, St. Louis is the middle of a recovery period, with both its general economy and commercial real estate market starting to heat up.
According to the Cassidy Turley report, one of the slowest markets in St. Louis, the office market, is still enjoying a recovery. That recovery, though, is not moving as quickly as people would like. Cassidy Turley reported that St. Louis’ office market saw 209,000 square feet of absorption in 2012. That is about half of the absorption expected in a normal year.
Still, the office market is worst-performing one in St. Louis right now. That this market still saw positive absorption, then, ranks as good news.
Other sectors performed quite well in St. Louis last year. The industrial market, for instance, was strong, with several big industrial transactions highlighting the year. Jacobson Warehouse Company occupied 402,313 square feet in the second quarter of the year, while Emdeon Business Services took an additional 116,164.
Retailers have also more aggressively targeted St. Louis, with Cassidy Turley pointing to restaurants, drug stores and groceries of all types being particularly active. Off-price apparel chains, catering to the country’s new-found passion for frugality, were busy, too, as were discount health clubs and dollar stores.
