Is the Airport Area Emerging as Phoenix’s Top Office Market?

The Airport Area in Phoenix is growing rapidly. New research from JLL shows that the office vacancy rate fell 9.3% in 2018, down to 23.4%. Phoenix has experienced tremendous growth in recent years, and Tempe has become the most coveted office submarket in Phoenix. Now, the Airport Area is benefitting from that growth.

“Phoenix is growing in ways that we never thought was possible, especially since the economic downturn of 2008 and 2009,” Jennifer Farino, lead researcher in Phoenix at JLL, tells GlobeSt.com. “We have been more diverse in growing in different directions to make sure that doesn’t happen again. Investors have wanted to come in and be part of this growth and the future growth that Phoenix and the Airport submarket are going to have.”

The Airport Area’s location alone makes it an attractive submarket. It is near the airport, offers shirt commute times from nearly everywhere in Phoenix and is close to a skilled labor force. “The Airport Area is strategically located next to Phoenix Sky Harbor airport, which had a record of 40 million passengers last year,” Farino. “The fact that there are only five submarkets in an around the area of Sky Harbor is a big hot topic. Workers are also looking for accessibility, and the Airport Area is located in the middle of Phoenix with an average 27-minute commute time. For tenants, it has a beautiful labor pool with ASU to the east of the submarket, and those workers are very attractive to tenants looking at the Airport Area.”