The biggest boom in the history of Kansas City’s industrial sector? That’s how 2017 and 2018 might be remembered, according to the latest research from Cushman & Wakefield.
During that 24-month period, 14.4 million square feet of industrial space was added to the Kansas City market, Cushman & Wakefield reported, while net absorption totaled 16.2 million square feet. The size of the industrial market here increased by 6.9 percent.
And despite all that new construction? The industrial vacancy rate in the Kansas City region fell from 8.3 percent to 7 percent.
“The last two years have been an unprecedented period of success,” said Michael Mayer, Cushman & Wakefield managing principal in Kansas City, in a written statement.
Consider this: The Kansas City market could see a 15 percent drop in net absorption in the coming year and that total would still be the third-highest absorption level on record, surpassing the current third-highest total by almost 500,000 square feet.
At the end of 2018, 2.9 million square feet of speculative industrial space was under construction in the Kansas City area, according to Cushman & Wakefield. The Johnson County submarket led the way with nearly 3.9 million square feet of industrial space absorbed in 2018. The Executive Park/Northland Park submarket pulled up in second place with more than 1.3 million square feet of industrial space absorbed.
And the future? It looks busy, too. Cushman & Wakefield pointed to Kubota Tractor, which is expected to start construction on a 1-million-square-foot building at Logistics Park Kansas City this year.
