SOUTHEAST SNAPSHOT, JULY 2007

Columbia, South Carolina Industrial Market

The Columbia MSA includes 34 million square feet of industrial space, of which approximately 4.5 percent is vacant.

Leasing activity remains strong in the market with most firms looking for spaces 15,000 square feet or smaller. One driver of relocations is the residential redevelopment of the area near downtown around Williams Brice Stadium in the Congaree Vista. A number of businesses in these areas are relocating to newer facilities separated from residential development.

New development is largely limited to buildings less than 25,000 square feet. Market rents continue to increase in order to substantiate the rising costs of ground-up development. Most new development is in multi-tenant buildings divided into spaces ranging from 5,000 to 15,000 square feet and smaller single- tenant buildings ranging from 5,000 to 25,000 square feet.

Active developers include regional developers Monteray Construction, Boyd Development, Cohn Construction and Kahn Development. Miller Valentine and other national developers are also looking for sites in the market.

New development is largely occurring in three areas. Regional firms are locating in the north Columbia area along Interstate 20 where an 87-acre park is under construction while the Buckner Road area continues to be active. The area surrounding the Interstate 77 and Wilson Boulevard interchange continues to see additional activity – particularly with firms serving the residential and business markets in the rapidly growing Northeast Richland market. And the southeastern part of the market continues to active along Shop and Pineview roads. This area is the location of the new South Carolina Farmers Market and numerous other regional users are looking for sites.

In the long term, two forces should drive the Columbia MSA’s industrial growth: First, the region is centrally located at the intersection of three Interstates (I-77, I-20 and I-26), giving it unique transportation access. This is further enhanced by the region’s proximity to the Port of Charleston – one of the nation’s busiest container terminals. Secondly, the University of South Carolina is developing a research campus downtown in a former warehouse distribution district. This development is currently displacing warehouse users and should generate additional demand as research is commercialized and products are manufactured for the market.

— Nick Stomski is a broker with NAI Avant in Columbia, South Carolina.


©2007 France Publications, Inc. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints of this article contact Barbara Sherer at (630) 554-6054.