San Antonio Retail Hits Record-High Rent

SAN ANTONIO-Remember the retail could be the battle cry in San Antonio’s commercial real estate market. Unlike the office and other sectors, retail has posted a record-high average rent and is gearing up for more space on the market.

“Retail is doing real well in this market in general,” Marilynn Glasscock, with Dominion Realty Advisory Group Inc., tells GlobeSt.com. She presented the retail outlook at a recent real estate gathering in San Antonio.

Rents citywide average $11.05 per sf, up 26 cents from 2000. It’s the first time rent topped $11 per sf. The citywide vacancy rate is 15% and absorption has been down this year. “That was mainly because of losing Montgomery Ward’s, Bealls and Weiner’s and some of the big department stores,” she says. “We’ve got some big retailers coming in such as Lowe’s and Costco, but they’re stand-alone and they don’t count against absorption.”