The St. Louis office market? It’s steady these days, according to the latest numbers from Gershman Commercial Real Estate. It’s important to note, though, that steady doesn’t mean stagnant. The St. Louis office market saw plenty of important developments in the second quarter of this year.
Gershman reported that the overall office vacancy rate for the St. Louis market stood at 11.4 percent at the end of the second quarter. That’s down just slightly from a vacancy rate of 11.5 percent at the end of the first quarter of the year.
The Clayton submarket remained the strongest, with a low vacancy rate of 5.5 percent overall and 3.6 percent for Class-A properties at the end of the second quarter.
Absorption did rise. Gershman reported a positive net absorption of 157,556 square feet of office space at the end of the second quarter. That’s an improvement when compared to the first quarter of the year, which saw negative 397,029 square feet of absorption.
What were some of the bigger office moves in the St. Louis market during the second quarter? Cambridge Innovation Center occupied 41,000 square feet, while Microsoft moved into 29,000 square feet of office space. Both of these companies moved into space at the newest building at the Cortex Innovation Community at 4220 Duncan Avenue.
Centene is making news in this market, too. Construction is continuing on the company’s 600,000-square-foot expansion Clayton. Construction is also continuing at Ballpark Village’s 200,000-square-foot office building in downtown St. Louis and the Streets of St. Charles’ 60,000-square-foot office/retail building.
The average quoted asking rent for the St. Louis office market ended the second quarter at $20.86 a square foot. That is up slightly from $20.70 a square foot at the end of the first quarter of the year.
