COLUMBUS—The latest national jobs report generated headlines that the US unemployment rate has sunk below 6.0%, but Central Ohio has done even better, and vacancies in its industrial properties have also hit historic lows. According to Cassidy Turley, a commercial real estate provider in the US, the Columbus and Central Ohio industrial real estate market absorbed 1.7-million-square-feet in the third quarter. Furthermore, inventory in the industrial sector grew by 1.6-million-square-feet. Developers have another 2.5-million-square-feet of product under construction, and will deliver 1.6-million-square-feet before the end of the year.

“As the economy improves, the industrial market will only gain more momentum as it continues producing record-breaking low vacancy rates and adding much needed speculative space,” says Robin Mitchell, research analyst for Cassidy Turley's Columbus office.

The Central Ohio unemployment rate dropped to 4.4% in the third quarter. According to Frank Wojcik, senior vice president of Fifth Third Bank in Columbus, “with low interest rates and continued support by the Federal Reserve, we will continue to see steady improvement in the fourth quarter.”

For its third quarter report, Cassidy Turley surveyed two sets of industrial properties. One was the overall market consisting of 264-million-square-feet in 3,003 buildings. Also surveyed separately were the relatively new modern bulk buildings with more than 100,000-square-feet and at least 28' clear ceiling heights. This group totaled 123 buildings with 56-million-square-feet. “The vacancy rates of both groups continue to hit all-time lows,” Cassidy Turley found. The rate for modern bulk buildings hit just 4.52%, down from 4.89% in the second quarter. The entire market sank to 7.06%, a decline of 34 bps since last quarter.

And investors from out-of-state have started buzzing around Columbus. Cole Office & Industrial REIT II, an affiliate of Phoenix-based American Realty Capital Properties, paid $26.8 million for three buildings on Williams Rd. with a total of 759,900-square-feet. And Exeter Property Group purchased 496,156-square-feet at 3301-3321 Toy Rd. for $21 million. Major lease deals included Nautilus Inc. setting up its first distribution center in Columbus by leasing 253,000-square-feet at 5415 Centerpoint Pwy.

“The industrial market shows no sign of slowing down,” Cassidy Turley concluded, “and Columbus is well -positioned to capture the opportunities and ride the momentum.”