Austin remains not only the healthiest retail market in Texas, but also one of the strongest in the entire U.S., in terms of occupancy, according to a report by Weitzman, a full-service commercial retail real estate firm.
Occupancy in Austin is at 96.1 percent, up slightly from last year, despite some high-profile retail closings, including the closures of four Toys 'R' Us and Babies 'R' Us stores.
Austin's bustling Sixth Street
“The best-located [vacant] stores should find new occupancy fairly quickly,” reads the report, titled Texas Snapshot 2018. “A big reason for this is that little new space is being added to a market that ranks as the tightest in Texas in terms of available space."
Austin is set to see an additional 700,000 square feet of new and expanded retail space this year, up from 640,000 square feet added last year. The market has a total of 49.5 million square feet of retail space in projects measuring 25,000 square feet or larger.
Fareground at One Eleven The food hall opened in the downtown this year
“The market’s healthy occupancy is aided by demand-based new construction, which comes online significantly or fully occupied, and key redevelopment projects.” Among these are The Blueprint Building, a 36,000-square-foot, four-story restaurant-and-entertainment project on Sixth Street; The Crescent, a major redevelopment of a center at Airport Boulevard; Crossing Point, a multitenant center redeveloped from a former home-decor superstore; Fareground at One Eleven, a food hall that opened this year in the downtown; and Music Lane, a 163,000-square-foot, mixed-use retail, restaurant and office project under construction on South Congress.
Annual small-shop rents at anchored, top-class projects range from roughly $30 per square foot to $40 — though sometimes higher, says Weitzman.
By Edmund Mander
Director, Editor-In-Chief/SCT
