Flowers aren’t the only thing blooming this spring in the Greater Lehigh Valley as activity remains high in the commercial and industrial real estate market. In my last article in January, we recapped 2020 and celebrated signs of economic improvement starting in late fall. Businesses that put things on hold during times of unknown, started moving forward with their plans, and the various relief programs and all-time low-interest rates assisted in that shift. Across the board, we see a healthy amount of activity for all sectors in commercial real estate with a sense of optimism in the market.
The office segment has always remained steady with an influx of available options including various professional parks to standalone single-tenant locations, the competition is high. With the increased vacancy rates it will cause the need for creativity among owners and real estate agents to entice new tenants to their buildings. Lease incentives, increased tenant improvement allowance, building improvement plans, and competitive deal terms are ways owners are attracting and winning tenants to their properties. We have noticed an increase of larger users in the market looking to consolidate their space and reduce their overall footprint. As for office sales, the available properties range from 1,500 s/f single-tenant up to 50,000+ multi-tenant buildings. Investor activity has remained constant throughout the past year, increasing noticeably more this second quarter.
Surprisingly, smaller end users are causing the majority of high activity in the retail sector along with quick service trail locations. Businesses that could maintain operations throughout the obstacles of 2020 are in growth mode, which is not true for larger block tenants. What we can anticipate in the retail market is that it’s going to continue to change and transform from what we have all known it to be.