MEMPHIS—Much can be said about the strength of Memphis’ commercial real estate market—and now Xceligent is saying it. In its first quarter Market Trends reports, the firm is looking at industrial, office, and retail trends in Memphis.

The Memphis office market had a great start to 2014, posting over 60,000 square feet of positive absorption, which dropped the overall vacancy rate below 21%. Meanwhile, the new owners of 100 North Main announced plans for the building’s new redevelopment project, turning the 400,000-square foot building into a hotel and residential use.

Memphis’ class B buildings continue to take the lead in absorption finishing the quarter with nearly 59,000 square feet, while class C finished with positive 5,000 square feet. Noteworthy is the fact that class A posted a negative 3,200 square feet. The good news, Xceligent reports, is the 30,930-square-foot lease at Oak Court Office building. Monogram foods signed the largest lease of the first quarter in Memphis.

Turning to Memphis’ retail market, Xceligent reports positive absorption of 24,000 square feet in the first quarter. Although absorption wasn’t too noteworthy, the firm reports, there were three build-to-suits announced: LA Fitness will have two new locations at Centennial Commons and Highway 64/Interstate 40, while Marshall’s signed a lease for a new 22,000 SF location at Centennial Commons.

“A new mixed-use shopping center could be coming to Downtown Memphis,” Xceligent says. “The 10k SF development is being considered for an area south of the FedEx Forum, to be called SoFo. Conn’s signed the largest lease for 42,296 SF at Cross Creek Shopping Center.”

Moving on to industrial, Xceligent reports the Memphis market posted nearly 1 million square feet of positive absorption for the quarter, bringing the overall vacancy to 13.4%. One of the big stories was construction on Jimco’s 500,000-square-foot build-to-suit completed in the first quarter at 699 Research Dr.

“Exeter Property Group continued their buying power by picking up a total of 4.4 million SF in multiple cities,” the report says. “Memphis benefited from this spending spree as four buildings totaling over 2.1 million SF were purchased. Ozburn Hessey Logistics inked the largest lease, pulling in 200k SF at Tuggle Distribution Center.”

Download the full Q1 2014 Memphis Industrial report by clicking here. 

Download the full Q1 2014 Memphis Office report by clicking here. 

Download the full Q1 2014 Memphis Retail report by clicking here.